The Chums 1
by 26Chapters
Summary: Bonnie and Damon agree to be together in the years of waiting for Elena. The lighter version.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1, **Age Of Desire.**

* * *

Damon Salvatore _is_ stunned. Well, maybe the right word to use isn't stunned, but since he can't find a word perfect and equivalent to describe how he feels this moment, he'll go with stunned. He's stunned, because he can't believe that he's had _that_ in front of him for two years after Elena went to sleep and he _didn't_ see it.

He leisurely runs his eyes up and down the length of his best friend's body –from heel, to smooth bare leg, to bare thigh back, to short-covered butt, to top-covered back, to neck- wondering how in the world he didn't recognise Bonnie Bennett as Freaking-Hot-Bonnie-Bennett, during all the time that he spent at her side. Seriously, where was the testosterone part of his vision all these years when he looked at her?

'Bonnie?' his subconscious calls out for her.

He can't believe it's taken a simple takeout dinner in her kitchen, and then her washing up their plates in her usual sleeping attire (and him observing through all this), for him to notice her as more than just friend material. Something must've been wrong with him before now.

'What?' she responds without looking back at him.

He didn't expect her to look at him, to be honest, because this is them being themselves and casual. If he'd used a more serious tone, she would've stopped what she's doing to give him all of her attention, but he didn't and so she didn't react as such. Because she doesn't face him, he goes to her and places himself between her and the sink.

Although she looks at him as though she's wondering if he's lost a little bit of his mind, she doesn't say anything about it, she only takes a small step backwards, to make more room for him to stand on. What he wants, however, is not to keep standing in front of her, but to orbit her for further inspection, which is what he starts to do. He takes step after step around her, making sure to keep his eyes on her body parts, and once or twice on her face as he does so.

'Isn't it weird how we've both been single all this time?' he asks her thoughtfully.

He needs to inspect her from face to feet, to try and figure out how he missed her girlfriend-material beauty and body, because he can't understand how his head missed it all this time.

'What's weird,' she says, holding his arm so that he can stop going around her, 'is you circling me like you're doing some freaky spell.'

'You're the witch in this equation, remember?' he replies, moving away from her side to stand in front of her. 'And stop changing the subject.'

It's a fact that Bonnie doesn't like to talk about her relationship status with him. She's told him that on several occasions and she's specifically told him that her love life is _hers_ alone, and he should butt out of it, if he knows what's good for him.

' _You_ stop circling me,' she counters with a pout, adding, 'And no, it's not weird, it's normal.'

 _Pfft_ , Damon thinks, mentally eye rolling, _normal his foot_! It's no coincidence that they've been actively single for two years and _that_ invested in spending time with each other instead. Until the realisation he came to him a second ago, he couldn't see that there must be some kind of kismet conspiracy at play in their lives here.

'Come on, Bon,' he tries to explain it to her, 'you're _too_ hot for words, and I'm just a tad over that, so don't you find it weird that we've been single?'

In the past two years, he's never had to battle to find girls. In fact, for his sexual fix, he gets around, but he never sees any of the girls as ones that he can expand into his life for more than just sex. Hell, all the girls he's slept with this far, he hasn't even compelled a drink for beforehand. It takes one heck of a girl to compel a drink for, and only Bonnie knows how many drinks he's compelled for her just for the fun of it.

'No,' she answers straightly.

'Well, I do,' he tells her sincerely, 'and I just figured out why.'

'I'm not going to ask,' comes out of her mouth, sounding like she's going to disregard whatever he says anyway.

'You and me,' he announces like a genius light bulb idea just struck him, 'we're supposed to be together!'

Pulling her face back, Bonnie asks a very appalled, 'Excuse me?'

He easily expected that she wouldn't take his conclusion like that right away, and for that, he's already prepared a logical explanation for her benefit.

'Think about it,' he carefully starts to present.

In this moment, he believes that he's got one chance to deliver his evidence to will influence her. That's why, at least for now, he's got ten separate pieces of evidence that he's going to tell her, to help her realise that he's right.

'Think about what?' she questions, her face not changing.

'I know all there is to know about you,' he resumes. 'I know about the freckles under your makeup. I know about the hair under your weave. I know how you look in a bikini. I know how your cooking tastes like. I know you talk in your sleep. I know what's like to live with you. I know how needy you get during your period. I know your favourite things back to back. I know about the scar under your left boob. I know all your dirty little secrets, Bon,' he finishes his listing.

Apparently unimpressed, she asks him, 'And?'

And, he thinks, he's not bothered by them. And he's still here with her, day in and day out. And he wouldn't trade any of those things for others. And well... and that's just proof!

'All that's missing,' he chooses to tell her instead of what he was thinking, 'is knowing how you kiss, how loudly you scream during sex, how it's like to shower with you, and then _we're set_.'

It's that simple, he thinks in the brief silence that follows his words. If she didn't get it before, she's sure to get it now.

'Like boyfriend and girlfriend?' Bonnie asks after two short blinks.

'Yep,' he moves his head up and down, proud of himself for getting her to understand what he means. 'And oh, I just remembered, I've had your blood plenty of times. By choice.'

That's a definite plus, as opposed to having her blood by necessity. All the signs are pointing to them being together, she just needs to swallow them and then digest them.

He waits for her to respond to that, actually, he waits for her to agree with him, but she only draws her eyes together. After a few seconds of looking at him with a frown, she thins her lips too.

'Damon,' finally comes out of her mouth, 'there's _no_ universe where you and me could cuddle and bath together.'

Okay, that's _not_ what he expected to hear from her. He thought he'd hear something along the lines of, 'You know what, Damon, I think you're on to something.' Clearly she has her definitions of a relationship too, but she's apparently not willing to see him with her in it. Because of that, he frowns this time around.

'Because?' he curiously wants to know, a little thrown off that she didn't even consider it.

'I'm not a placeholder for one Elena Gilbert, that's why,' she answers right away like it's been at the tip of her tongue all along.

Ah, Elena. Elena Gilbert _is_ Bonnie's problem? Well, Elena isn't here right now, is she? Instead of telling her that, though, he tries another argument, another approach.

'Come on, Bon, think about it,' he says. 'Would you rather have some loser stroke you or _me_ , who you've known for most of your life, treat you with respect, because you mean the world to me?'

Instead of being some loser's girlfriend, she can be his. It's not so much that he doesn't want to see her with another guy, but clearly, if she didn't manage to meet someone all these years, then she should at least try a thing with him and see if it works. It wouldn't do any of them damage to try being together. Like he said, they know all there is to know about each other, except the sex part. It wouldn't be hard for them to be in a relationship, not when they already care about each other.

As though hearing his thoughts, she shakes her head to disagree with him. 'It just wouldn't work, Damon.'

Although he notes the tinge of defeat in her voice in what she says, he ignores it, choosing not to dwell on it, but rather to focus on convincing her to be in a relationship with him.

'It will,' he insists animatedly. 'You trust me, I trust you. We know each other's limits and we're best friends. It's the perfect recipe for success.'

Like she's actually considering his words, she eyes him quietly. She studies him for such a long time without saying anything, that he partly forgets that she's supposed to answer her agreement to him. It's when she lets out a soft breath through her mouth, that he's reminded to try and persuade her again.

'You know you want to,' he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

Still, she only keeps considering him in silence, making him think that he has to try harder.

'Okay, let's do a test drive,' he suggests, starting to feel a little desperate, 'if you don't like it, then that's that.'

He's not particularly desperate to be in a relationship or have a girlfriend, but observing Bonnie while she did the dishes, opened a part of his mind that was closed before and now he can't shake the idea out of his mind.

'No,' she finally delivers with a set finality.

'No to the test drive, or no to you being my girl?'

'Both,' she sternly answers and then turns her back on him. 'I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Damon.'

With her back to him and her walking out of the kitchen, he picks up that she won't talk about this anymore.

'Fine,' he accepts. 'I'll let go of it for now, but you know I'll try again, right? You know that about me.'

'Lock my door after you leave,' she tells him over her shoulder, leaving him with the feeling that she just set a challenge for him.

With a satisfied smile, he watches as she disappears from his sight altogether. Whether or not she challenged him to try for success again, he'll definitely try again. Now that he realises that she's been under his nose, he won't let his 'what if' discovery chance pass him by.

* * *

Chapter 2, **Break Your Plans.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2, **Break Your Plans.**

* * *

When Damon backs Bonnie against the wall next to her bedroom door, he does it tactfully and gently, so as not to upset the balance of their current vibe, and set her off into flight mode. If he sets her off into flight mode, all of his patience throughout the past weeks, would've been for nothing.

The thing is, he's waited three stretchingly long weeks to attempt to talk to her about being with him again, so he _cannot_ rush into it. He can't bombard her all at once with his actions either, because that will get her flying away from him in the opposite direction.

In order to keep her here, obediently against the wall, he _has_ to have a strategy, and his strategy _has_ to be gentle and easy to fall for. He has to stealthily worm his way into her mind in a way that will make it impossible for her to deny him what he wants.

In the three weeks that passed, she'd been on her guard, overly suspicious of every move that he made in her presence, and of every word that came out of his mouth. Then, he couldn't catch her off guard duty, and then ever so smoothly slide her into the conversation of being with him, _but_ thankfully, the chance to catch her off guard, is today, after three _long_ weeks.

Caroline -bless her insatiable need for get-togethers and parties- gave him the perfect opportunity to set the stage tonight, leading up to now. He played it cool all during Caroline's dinner party, to deliberately get Bonnie to let her guard down and trust him not to try anything. _Clearly_ , it worked, because she _invited_ him in, when he brought her home, and she even allowed him to 'show' her something, on his _strict_ condition that she wouldn't interrupt him or protest. Which is how they are where they are now.

'Did you have a good time tonight?' he softly asks, making his feet move back so that no part of him is near to making contact with her.

He _really_ doesn't want her to feel trapped or cornered, which means that he can't do anything just yet, to get her even a little suspicious of what he's about to bring up. He's using _this_ time tonight, because he couldn't ask her during the past three weeks.

Bonnie nods with a soft smile to answer his question. He takes it to be an indication that she loved how the dinner party turned out.

'I had a good time too,' he supports, 'but it's only because you were there. If you hadn't been there, I would've hated it.'

Unsuspecting of what's really happening, Bonnie expectantly looks at him, just waiting for him to show her what he wants to show her. He can see it on her face that she has no clue that he's gently baiting her and when she comes to realise it, she's already hooked! But on a side note, he doesn't think that she knows that her presence _always_ does this thing where it shines a little hope his way, so he's not completely baiting her, he's also telling her the truth.

Taking advantage of the fact that she's innocently unaware of his plan, he brings his hands to softly settle on either side of her waist. She doesn't protest to that, but she does speak up when he starts leaning his head towards her.

'Damon, what are you-' she starts only to cut off abruptly.

She does that, she cuts off, because right before the end of her question, he leans in all the way and begins nibbling on her neck. As tempting as it is to want to draw out his fangs and stick them into the softness of her flesh, he quickly reminds himself that that's not his mission, so it can wait for another time. For now, his plan is only to give her hickey, but most importantly, he's going to show her what she's denying herself by refusing to be with him.

Six soft nibbles on her neck, he switches to kiss along her neck, making the kisses soft yet tantalisingly sensual and lingering. He _needs_ for her to remember the exact _feel_ of the kisses even _after_ he's gone.

In his ears, he hears her heartbeat change to rapid thump, blatantly giving away the fact that she's enjoying it. But when he hears her pull her breath in and he feels how she's forcing herself to hold her breath, almost ready to burst from doing so, he stops what he's doing and draws back to look at her.

 _That's_ as far as he will push tonight. There will be no lip kissing attempts, or any groping, because he's sure that he's made his point. Also, stopping while he's ahead will do well for him.

'Was that what you wanted to show me?' she asks, her eyes narrowed at him.

She can try to make herself look annoyed, and maybe deep down she is, but he knows as well as she does, that if she was really annoyed with him, she wouldn't have stood around and let him do _that_ to her, whether he told her not to protest or not.

'If you were with me,' he answers, removing his hands from her waist, 'that would be the perfect ending to a wonderful night.'

In complete silence, she studies him for a long time until her heartbeat is finally back to its original pace. They keep eye contact for the whole time that she studies him, and for him, somewhere in the middle, something important shifts, intimately bringing him closer to her somehow. For the first in three weeks, as he keeps his eyes on hers to challenge her, he starts to really think.

'What do you really want from me, Damon?' Bonnie questions, using a lowly defeated and tired tone.

It's like she's telling him that she can't take this anymore. It's like she's telling him to just put an end to it, before it's too late. It's like she thinks that he will hurt her, or something...

In the beginning, he remembers, being with her had just been an idea, something that he thought could work out between them without the messy parts of a relationship, but after staring into her eyes for _this_ long without exchanging words, the idea has suddenly changed into something _real_. It's like in keeping eye contact with her, her soul spoke to his soul and he couldn't help it recall that she's an amazing person that he effortlessly connects with, even without saying a single thing.

'I want...' he starts and then trails off to think of the right answer.

What does he want, exactly? It's not just sex, that's for sure. Sex is not a challenge for him to get, so it's not that he's just looking to have her in his bed. But on the other hand, that _is_ what he said is the only thing missing from their relationship, so that is a bit confusing... In the beginning, the idea had seemed picture perfect, but suddenly, he doesn't know what he really wants. It's funny how one moment changes everything.

As though deeply disappointed, she makes a small sound of part disappointment and part resignation, and then follows it with, ' _You_ don't even know what you want, do you?'

He would think that she would give him time to answer her, but instead, she rolls away from the wall and moves into her room, leaving him alone by the wall. It takes a long second for him to realise that his attempt has failed just like the last time, but when he realises that, he collects himself to try again. Fine, he'll accept that the first time that he asked her to be with him, it was purely mentally-driven, but things have changed since then, so he has to try again. Thinking this, he follows after her and closes the door behind him.

'What?' she asks, not facing him as she walks to her closet.

'I'm sleeping with you,' he announces, mostly testing for her to turn back to him.

He really will not push her. Weeks ago maybe, he would've pushed, but today, after now, he won't push her, because then she might not take him seriously. If he wants her to take him seriously, he will have to wait near her door and not invade her space like his mind is trying to tell him to do.

'Because you don't have your own bed?' she asks cynically.

From the way he knows her, he can clearly imagine the stoic expression on her face. He sometimes hates it when she does that, he sometimes hates how she tries to close herself off.

First thinking for a second, he asks, 'What do you think I want from you, Bonnie?'

If she asked him what he wants from her, it's because she has her own answer of what he wants from her, and he has an inkling of what that answer may be. He just wants to hear her say it.

'Sex, obviously,' is her response. 'There's nothing else that you could want from me.'

He'd been expected her to say the first part, however, the second part, he didn't think she would say, but now that she's said it, his mind instantly thinks of a response to challenge her,

'And why is that?' he crosses his arms, anxious to hear her answer.

Suddenly, she whips around to face him. He notices that her eyebrows are drawn together to display her displeasure.

'You want me to answer questions that I need to hear from you? You're unbelievable, Damon.'

' _You're_ unbelievable, Bonnie,' he protests. 'You're the one pretending like we don't have a relationship, like we _aren't_ in a relationship.'

Her facial expression in response to what he just said, asks all the questions that her mouth doesn't.

'Tell me that you cook with Matt the way you do with me,' he explains it better for her. 'Tell me that you let Stefan hold you when he wants to, just because he can. Tell me that you speak to Alaric and Enzo on the phone everyday, even knowing you'll see them later.'

Until just a while ago, he hadn't even realised that they've been dancing around in a relationship, only without the sex part. He doesn't know how he could've been so blind, that he failed to see that they've been in a relationship all this time, but they disguised it under the pretence of being best friends.

It only occurred to him a while ago, that no, normal, average best friends don't have that sort of relationship with each other, at least not to the extent to which he and Bonnie have. She can deny it, or defend their best friend lie all she wants, but the truth is, no normal best friends act they way they do with each other.

'Because when you do,' he poses, 'I'm going to tell you that there's something _wrong_ with you. But I'm not going to tell you that, because you're no going to tell me all that nonsense either.'

Bonnie slowly crosses her arms and then maintains that, 'I'm not best friends with all the other guys, so why would I tell you that?'

Right, he wryly thinks, but to her he says, 'Trust me, Bonnie, if I wanted to just get between your legs, I'd find a way. It's not _that_.'

The look on her face tells him that she doesn't quite believe him, or that she's struggling to, so he decides to add more to count in his favour. Also, he doesn't want him to push her, neither does he want to go deeper, because the idea of going deeper, opens widely the possibility of her telling him something that can hurt him. He has to tone himself down, to playful, not serious Damon-insisting, so that he doesn't create that possibility of not being taken seriously, and then being hurt.

'Listen, if you tell me that you want to be with some other guy,' he proposes, 'then I'll back off.'

He probably really won't back off, because he knows himself. Actually, he definitely will not back off and let her be with some other loser guy that knows nothing about her, but he needs brownie points in his corner so...

'What's it going to be, Bon?' he teases, even though he's silently hoping that she doesn't kick him out.

For only a second, she glares at him. Whatever she sees or thinks of in that minute, though, he's quite thankful for, because she lets go of her previous plan to shun him, to accept his new proposal.

'You can sleep in my bed,' she resigns, adding a stern warning for him to remember, 'But no cuddling, no spooning, no _nothing_!'

Relieved that his hope came through for him, he shows her a thumbs up. He knows that she said he shouldn't try anything, but he will. He'll put his leg over hers as they sleep, and then that seed will inevitably take root, bringing him one step closer.

'I mean it, Damon,' she warns, 'no nothing!'

'I promise,' he tells her as seriously as he can, only, behind his back, he crosses his middle finger over his index finger to nullify the promise.

Seriously, Bonnie knows him, does she really believe him?

* * *

Chapter 3, **Casual.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3, **Casual**.

* * *

Bonnie opens her eyes, feeling comfortable and surrounded. Literally.

The feeling comfortable part, she completely understands, because falling asleep usually happens when a comfortable position is found, but the surrounded part, she doesn't understand just immediately. It feels to her –and she slowly closes her eyes to accurately feel this out- that there's an arm around her, and _oh_ , a leg stashed between both of hers.

Huh, she thinks in slight confusion and then opens her eyes again.

It's a dream, right? She's dreaming that she's comfortably in bed with someone who can't keep their body parts on their side of the bed, right?

Right about as that last part of her own question forms in her mind, the memory part of her brain instantly rouses from sleep, to bring her a snippet of what happened last night.

 _No_ , her memory reminds her, _you let Damon into your bed last night_ , _after he did that thing to your neck_. _He set the mood just right_ , _even making you hope that he wouldn't stop doing that thing to your neck_ , _because you fell into the mood like the fool that you were last night_.

'Hnghm,' she groans aloud, except, not too loudly to be heard by the neighbours at this hour of the morning, only by the person next to her.

She groaned, for him to hear that she doesn't appreciate this, but she's really more annoyed with herself for agreeing to his stupid request. She _wants_ to be upset with him for not sticking to his word, and _actually_ trying something while they slept, but she can't. She shouldn't have been a fool and allowed him into her bed in the first place, so it's really all her fault.

'Damon,' she groans out his name, hoping that he reacts this time.

'Yes?' he evenly answers.

He's been awake all this time, she realises from the sound of his voice. He'd probably been waiting for her to wake up, while deliberately keeping his body parts on hers. For that, for being so typically Damon, she moves her arm to smack him as properly as she can in her position, with her hand.

'Let go of me,' she cries in mild frustration.

Her hand barely made sufficient contact with him, to cause him any sting on the arm of his around her. He's most likely smiling at her like the idiot that she feels like he is right now.

'No,' he carefully pronounces.

He makes it sound like there are better chances of it raining indoors than him letting her go, simply because she asked him to.

'Take your arm away,' she cries again, quickly finding an excuse to give him. 'I want to use the bathroom.'

This time, he's the one who lets out a groan, following it with, 'But it's so cozy holding you like this.'

When he groans like he's not pleased with letting her go, and then goes on to say that he's cozily holding her, she realises just how premeditated this is. Well, to be honest, from the second she remembered that she's in bed with him, she immediately knew that he's clinging to her deliberately. But something about him confessing the words out like this, sets it in for her, on a whole deeper level than she thought possible, that he actually premeditated this, and the realization, makes her want to set him on fire. Literally.

' _You're not holding me_ ,' she fires at him with as much frustration that she feels for him.

All this time, more so now, it didn't occur to her to simply move out of his hold. Somewhere between blaming herself for getting herself into this and being annoyed with Damon for going against his word, she buried her kinetic ability, apparently.

'You've got your arm around me,' she continues, 'and your leg is between mine, but you're _not_ holding me. Now get them off me, because I need to go.'

Not even a second after her demand, she feels his arm lift off her and his leg slither out from between hers, for her to know that he's letting her go. Well, releasing her, actually, which she didn't exactly expect from him, but despite that, she quickly scrambles away from him, off the bed, and onto her feet on the floor beside the bed.

Away from his arm, and safely on her feet, she doesn't think anything of the fact that Damon shifts closer to the edge of the bed, closer to her. She begins to think that he's just being Damon, only wanting to be closer to her, to tease her some more, when at the speed of sound, she feels Damon's hands on her waist.

It happens so fast for her to stop it, but as soon as she feels Damon's hands on her waist, and she makes to look down to confirm it with her eyes that he's really got his hands on her, she finds herself perfectly on top of him, with her face just below his neck.

Frustrated, she concentrates her mind to give him as frustrating an aneurysm as she can muster, for first of all, doing that to her, as if they are morning playmates or something, and secondly… ug, for just ug. The whole implication behind him grabbing her like that and down on top of him, is one that she doesn't like.

'Ouch,' he cries, to which she knows that she successfully did her job.

Satisfied with the result, she lifts her face from below his neck, to rub it in his face that he deserves it, to find him rubbing his temples soothingly.

'Geez, Bonnie, what was that?'

Too powerful evidently, she answers in her head, but to him, she delivers a light smack on the side of his head as an answer to his question.

'Why'd you do that?' she wants to know about his impromptu stunt.

Firstly eyeing her as if she's starting to lose her mind, Damon then lifts himself up to sit on her bed, bringing her up with him. The strange thing is, out of their own freewill, probably as a stability reflex, her legs adjust themselves as Damon rises up without the help of his hands, so that when he's finally in a seated position, she finds herself seated on him, and her legs on either side of him.

 _Inappropriate_ , she frowns to herself, briefly looking at her legs to explain themselves.

In this context, allowing herself to remain seated on Damon as though they're not in the middle of a disagreement about the very _particular_ fact of him touching her body parts without permission, would be totally hypocritical. Sure, she's been in this position on Damon once or twice before in her life, but those times had been purely circumstantial and for the sole purpose of getting something back from him that he refused to give back willingly. In this context, she has to get off him, as if she's fleeing from a nasty infection, and so that is what she does.

This time around, being safely on her feet _and_ away from him, she takes more than five steps backwards to avoid the same thing happening again. The aneurysm trick may have worked, but she's come to know that Damon can be quite undeterred when he wants something, even for the silliest of things.

'Seriously, Bonnie,' he continues to rub his temples gently, 'why'd you do that?'

'Because you're a liar,' she shoots, folding her arms. 'You said that you wouldn't try anything, and _what_ do I wake up to? Your premeditated leg tucked with mine and your arm around me!'

Just like that, Damon stops rubbing his temples to show her the sneakiest smile in the world. Even a mischievous child wouldn't be able to pull it off like that exactly.

'You didn't mention the part about both of us enjoying it,' he shamelessly supplies, wiggling his eyebrows for the perfect effect.

He's so ug!

'You're delusional!' she hotly tells him.

She hopes that he knows just how delusional he is to be thinking that she enjoyed cuddling with him. In fact, it wasn't even cuddling, it was him holding her like he wasn't supposed to! And no, she didn't enjoy it, because she only came to feel him on her once she woke up! So no, she didn't enjoy it.

Damon only looks at her intensely for a moment, and then just rhythms out a laugh. Quietly patient and genuinely warm is his laugh, that she feels compelled to insult him for making her frustration partly melt at his warm laugh.

As compelled as she feels, she really can't keep herself from saying, 'You're a delusional liar!'

That doesn't seem to affect him either, rather, like he has nothing to lose, and all the time to lose the nothing that he can, Damon props his elbow on the mattress, so that he can rest his head on his upturned palm, to apparently study her for a second while he's like that.

Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she wonders, 'What?'

He shouldn't study her like that, because it's making her feel like an interesting piece of an enigma, that needs careful observation.

'Stand there and tell me that there's a part of you that actually believed I wouldn't try anything,' he replies thoughtfully.

Uh… wow, he's got her there. He's really got her there. He knows as well as she does that she knows him and all of his ways. She can't deny that particular fact, _however_ , she won't confirm it either. She'll just evade the statement.

'You're still a liar,' is how she chooses to evade the truth.

'And you're not a builder,' he quickly counters with a smirk, 'so stop trying to build a wall between us.'

Ug, Damon! He's so… ug!

'Get out of my bed,' she unfolds her arms to point towards the door with her index finger.

Surprisingly, he easily springs of her bed onto his feet. She's glad to see that he at least kept his pants on, even if he didn't feel the need for a shirt while he slept.

'Breakfast?' he casually asks from where he is.

'No,' she replies. 'I can make my own breakfast. Just go home. You do remember that you have your own home, right?'

'I'll go home after I make you breakfast,' is his fluid answer with a shrug. 'It's not my style to cuddle and leave.'

She swears, if she didn't absolutely adore him as the best friend she could have in the world, Damon would've been a word away from his grave right now. When he chooses to, he really, no, _really,_ knows how to crawl under her skin to rile her up. It's a testament of how great of friends they are, that she manages –over and over- to quickly forget her frustration with him, minutes after the incident.

'We didn't cuddle,' she reminds him tightly.

'Yeah, well, I cuddled you,' he replies nonchalantly. 'But what's interesting is that you act like you don't know me. Pretend all you want, but you know that I'll keep trying until I have you in my arms, kissing you in some bed, and making you mine. You _should_ know that about me.'

Oh. Dear. Gosh.

He started off nonchalantly, but soon after he said the word 'pretend', he just went into sexily predator mode, that even her strongest spell couldn't prevent her from thinking of how appealing his threat sounded. She calls it a threat, well, because… Still, though, she won't let it show that his words _did_ affect her.

'Read my lips, Damon. I'm never having sex with you. Ever!'

To that declaration, he just raises a challenging eyebrow, and man, she can, in that moment unabashedly acknowledge that maybe, just maybe she has an attraction to him, that she's been pushing down all these years. That confident air of self-assurance surrounding him, is everything to her at the moment. But she's still determined to not let it show that he's having an effect on her.

'Plus,' she adds after a quick breath, 'I told you that I'm not standing in for Elena while I'm alive. We're friends, Damon, nothing more, so stop talking nonsense and…'

Phew, okay, so she needs to breathe again, because he's still looking at her like that. She just needs to breathe. Her point has been made anyway, so…

'I can hear your heartbeat, you know,' is the only replies that he hits her with, and yes, it hits her really well.

Her single defence, the only line of attack that she can hit him with, is a weak, 'Just go home, Damon!' right before she dashes out of the room, to avoid the subject of her heartbeat.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Good, she thinks, Damon's still here. That's very good for her.

Her phone is safely in her hands, but she gives it one squeeze to assure herself that it's there, and will be useful in getting Damon's idea out of his head forever.

From here on, she has to measure everything that she says to him, and partly be careful of what she does, so that she doesn't even arouse a tad bit of suspicion in him. If this plan of hers is going to work, it's going to have to look and sound unplanned.

And the first part of the plan, is to seem timid about entering the kitchen without the confirmation that he's not annoyed with her for attempting to kick him out. She knows that her attempts and words for that matter, didn't do anything to faze him, however, for the sake of her plan, she has to do this once, and do it right.

To act out her plan, she stands still at the entrance, not moving any part of her, until Damon turns from placing a glass on the table, to look at her.

'What?' he wonders suspiciously.

Again, for the sake of her plan going right, she pulls in a small breath to signal that she's not really sure of whether or not she should say it or not.

'Bonnie…'

'Just…' she tactfully starts, making sure that she sounds as unwilling as she should. 'We're okay, right?'

She really needs him to fall for that, because of course, she knows very well that they're fine. Something as minimal as Damon not doing something that he was supposed to, wouldn't be a valid reason for them to not be okay. They've gone through much too worse, to be affected by this.

'I'm shocked that's even a question from you,' he replies with a gentle smile.

She takes that to mean that he bought her acting. Wow, she must really be good, and for thinking that, she allows herself to smile. She only meant to smile in congratulations to herself, but then realises that it was a good move, because Damon can interpret the smile as one of relief from her end.

'Just making sure,' she tells him, taking her first steps into the kitchen.

Seeing her entering, Damon pulls out a chair for her. She thought that he would take the second chair for himself, but he doesn't.

'Sit down, have breakfast,' he ushers her with his hand, and only once she's seated he says, 'And I'm going home.'

'Really?' she faces him.

'I have stuff to do,' he answers with a shrug.

Caroline better come through before Damon leaves, that's all that running through her mind, because if Damon leaves without hearing the conversation, then he'll leave with the stupid idea that he can keep harassing her with the idea of them being together.

'Okay,' she says to him, remembering that she has to keep from being suspicious in any way, 'thanks for breakfast.'

At least that's one truth she's saying to him. Really, she appreciates the breakfast, because Damon generally doesn't like to cook, unless he really wants to. If she asked him to, he would do it, but if it was his turn to make dinner or lunch, he would bring take-out, because apparently he'd rather not get the smell in his hair.

'Any time,' he says with a wink, and as he begins to leave, she turns her back to busy herself with getting breakfast.

That's when the phone _thankfully_ starts to ring. She immediately picks it up, so that Damon won't miss a word of the conversation. Even if he's starting to go, he'll stop once he hears what the topic of the conversation between her and Caroline is.

'Hey,' she gladly speaks into the phone.

'You can't say no,' Caroline's voice sounds on the other end, 'and you can't back out, but remember that cutie Alfred that I work with?'

'Good morning to you too, Caroline.'

'Morning,' Caroline answers rushedly. 'Do you remember him or not?'

'Is he that guy you tried to set me up with?'

'He's totally perfect for you, Bonnie.'

'I'm not looking for a relationship right now, Care, you know that.'

'I know, I know,' her friend says, 'but he promised to help me out with a work thing, if I got you a date with him. You don't understand, Bonnie, no one wanted to help me, but he offered.'

'He didn't offer,' Bonnie corrects, 'he bargained. So technically that doesn't count. _I_ can help you, if you want.'

'I guess you could help me too, but I already told him that you'll do lunch with him today.'

'Caroline…'

Oh, this conversation is going too well. She can't even allow herself breaks in between to think of how false and generated this entire thing is, because she might mess up its fake authenticity.

'I was desperate, okay! It's a function, and I didn't want to have to deal with the technical stuff, so yeah, I kind of promised him that you'd do lunch with him today.'

'Oh, wow, I love how you're telling me this in advance,' Bonnie says sarcastically, 'I mean, I didn't see you at your party last night, so you couldn't have told me then.'

'It's just lunch,' Caroline tells her reassuringly. 'And I didn't want to ruin the party for you last night, you looked so cute in that dress. Bonnie, it's really just one lunch, and if you don't like it and him, I swear to compel him to forget about you.'

For the right effect, she sighs as though she feels trapped. 'I feel like I can't say no.'

'You can, but think about helping me, your favourite person in the whole world.'

Again, for the right effect, for her answer not to seem unconsidered and easy, she takes a moment to 'apparently' think about it, and then she finally gives in with another sigh.

'Just lunch.'

'Perfect,' Caroline squeals on her end. 'Thank you so much, and you'll see, you're really like him. He's got everything on your perfect guy list.'

'I'll be the judge of that,' she says, doing her best to sound very sceptical.

Trash. She doesn't have a perfect guy list, but she's glad that Caroline made that up for her. If she did have a perfect guy list, she'd only want someone she can be herself with, someone who doesn't make her feel compressed.

'Okay,' Caroline starts to wrap their conversation up, 'I'll text him your number.'

'Okay,' she agrees, adding, 'but you owe me.'

'We'll see if you still think that after your date. I'll come over for details, by the way.'

'Bye, Caroline,' she laughs into the phone and then starts to go back to getting her breakfast.

Damon's silent, but she can feel that he's there. She can feel his eyes on her, except, she'll keep pretending that she thinks he's gone.

'Bon?'

To act surprised, she spins around to 'apparently' see him just then. 'Oh, you're still here.'

'You have a date?' he wants to know, not even answering her question.

He has this strange look on his face, almost as if he's hurt, somehow. She wanted him to get the idea that she really has no interest in being part of his game to be a pastime, but she doesn't know, he looks disappointed, that she genuinely feels like she did this the wrong way.

'Caroline's idea,' she replies apologetically.

'But you just won't go out with _me_?'

What?

'I won't go out with you?' she pulls a face. 'Damon, you didn't ask me on a date, you suggested that we casually start hooking up for both of our convenience.'

Actually, he suggested that they start a string of physical things that only people in a romantic relationship do with each other, but he's really just made it seem like the most that he wants, is to start having sex with her. It almost seems to her, that he wants to have everything, without worrying about falling in love with the person that he's sleeping with, and then his promise to wait for Elena will not be broken. Sleeping with her, guarantees him sex and that easy companionship without falling in love with her, because he will _never_ fall in love with her.

'So then go out with me,' he cries to point that he looks passionate about what he's saying. 'Right now, _let's go_.'

Why is he so set on bedding her, that he's sounding desperate for a date?

'Damon, you think this is a game,' she starts to explain, 'but that's not what it is. You said it last night, we have a great relationship that we don't have with other people, why do you want to ruin that for sex? _We're_ not a game, and besides, you should know that I'm not the type of person to be careless about who I share myself with. I'm not just a casual anybody.'

There had been silence after her words, and then a very loud and clear, 'Okay,' filled the room, but then he just left. No forewarning or anything, he just turned his back and left. Apparently not even the fact that he is shirtless, stops him from leaving her house.

What? That's it?

He's not going to be annoyingly insistent? He's not going to feed her the classic Damon lines, press her more, and just well, be his usual pushy self? He's just letting it go like that? It's not like him. But then again, he did tell her that if she wants to be with some other guy, he'll give her the space that she needs for that to happen.

But really, this is Damon, she shouldn't be as foolish as to act like she doesn't know him to his core. Just _what_ is Damon up to? Is this really the end of his idea or…?

* * *

Chapter 4, **Did You Think.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4, **Did You Think.**

* * *

Only two things are the possible outcome of this date. She will either suffer through it, or she will enjoy it. Okay, well, maybe enjoy isn't _quite_ the word that she would use, but still, she might _like_ it enough to go for a second date. And then a third, then a fourth. Who knows…

Shrugging as she finally turns away from the mirror, at last satisfied with how she looks, Bonnie closes her eyes just for a second before she takes her first step out of the bathroom.

Personally, she's hoping for _liking_ the date, she picks up her thinking as her feet pick up to move. She hopes with all of her heart that she _will_ like the date, because that will give her an excuse to _not_ focus on the fact that she 'apparently' has an attraction to Damon. Damon, of all the people _in the world_. She's using the word 'apparently', because until last night, she didn't know, she wasn't aware, that she was capable of such a thing.

She's always had it in her head, that Damon is for Elena forever, and she made her peace with that a long time ago, so it's almost a shock to her that she apparently has an attraction to her best friend. It's not that _complete_ of a shock, because in all honesty, Damon's a good looking guy. He has what _she_ considers a good body, and he has this charm about him that's…

 _Woah_ , she halts in her steps from the bathroom, _calm down right there_ , _Bonnie_ ; _just take a breath right there before you get yourself somewhere you shouldn't be_. _You never used to think anything of his charm before_. _If anything_ , _you used to laugh it off_ , _because you've always known that it's always been an act_ , _except when it came to Elena_. _Don't you now go thinking that he's got charismatic charm_ , _that's kind of_ very _sexy, now that you think about it. No,_ don't _you go thinking such things._

'Arrggh!' she vigorously shakes her head to rid herself of the thoughts about Damon. 'What's wrong with me?'

Really, she should be thinking about this date with Alfred. She should be thinking about how she hopes with all her might that she'll like the date, and _even_ Alfred himself. She shouldn't slowly be entertaining the stupid idea that Damon presented to her. She shouldn't be thinking of Damon at all right now, because, well, she just shouldn't. The whole idea behind this lunch thing, was so that Damon would get the idea (which she sceptically believes that he did) out of his head once and for all, but now, she's the one with thoughts straying like this.

'That Damon!' she lets out lowly, almost growling it.

It's all Damon's fault. Although she's the one with the thoughts in her mind now, she won't take responsibility for any of this. It's his fault. He's the one who did that thing last night, consequently awakening desires in her that she'd long since forgotten, because she stopped having a boyfriend. He's the one who couldn't keep his hands to himself when they slept, and then made her waking feeling _really_ good! It's all his fault. She swears, if she didn't love him as a friend, she would so be plotting some kind of revenge right now…

Thankfully, she silently appreciates, she doesn't have to think about any of that Damon business anymore, because that was just a knock that she heard on her door. Partly glad for the clean rescue, but mostly excited to get out of the house, she rushes to the door, only slowing down a few steps away, to correct her posture before reaching the door and opening it. She fixes a polite smile on her face, ready to greet Alfred, who she instructed to pick her up at her house (just in case Damon thought she was bluffing and decided to spy on her), retaining it all through opening the door, only to unceremoniously lose it.

'Damon?' she chokes out.

Alfred _is_ at her door all right. She can see him from the corner of her left eye, but her main focus, the reason for her lost smile, is on Damon on the other side of Alfred, casually standing there as if he doesn't see that he's sharing door space with another guy.

He's _un-believa-ble_! He's stupidily unbelievable! He's so ug!

'Damon, what are you doing here?' she heatedly asks.

Half of her, wants to send several aneurysms to his head, to make him feel her irritation through them, but oddly, she can't bring herself to even muster the proper will to want to do that to him.

'Bonnie,' Alfred softly tries for her attention.

Great, she thinks as she tears her eyes away from Damon to her date, she went and messed up. How in the world does she get herself out of this one now?

By the unspoken rule of Alfred being her date, as opposed to Damon, who she sees on second to second basis, regardless of how she inflated at seeing Damon standing side by side with him, she should've spoken to Alfred first. Damon could've been naked and performing a rain dance on her doorstep, and she still should've acknowledged Alfred first, seeing as he is the guest.

'Oh,' she hastily tries to redeem herself by adding a smile. 'Hi. I'm sorry. I just didn't expect to see _him_ here.'

'Right,' Alfred dismisses nonchalantly. 'Are we going to lunch?'

Before she gives him an answer, she briefly takes a look at him, in order to add that onto the fact that he is very straightforward, and then assess him. He looks well put together. Actually, apart from hearing Caroline's description of him, this is the first time that she is seeing him in the flesh. From his black hair, to his grey eyes and handsome face, and then to his good dress sense, she can't help it feel that it's all rather appealing.

Maybe all that's more appealing on him, because not many people can stand next to Damon and not feel like he's intimidatingly hogging her from them. Yet, here is Alfred, looking as though he has no worry in the world, looking very precise and professional, like he's a man with a plan, simply interested only in her, and not Damon.

Hmm, maybe this is a man that she can develop _something_ with. All she has to do, to even get some place with him, is get _rid_ of her dearest best friend. And fast.

'Yes,' she answers perfectly, 'we are. Just… can you hold on? I need to talk to that guy,' she points an accusing finger at her best friend.

'I'll be in the car,' he announces evenly, not giving off any hint of being irritated.

If she can call it that, even the way he turns his back and begins to walk away from her door, is even, like he isn't bothered at all. It's quite interesting, that about him is interesting, and it actually leaves a good mark inside of her.

'That's the guy?' Damon's voice steers her eyes and thoughts away from Alfred, onto himself.

'What is it?' she asks roughly once her eyes are on him.

She feels like she's _so_ not here for any of his nonsense right now, and so, she won't waste her time expressing her frustration with him, to him.

'Where?' he asks in turn.

Whatever he's trying to pull, she's not here for it. She will not take it, and she will not let it affect her, because if she lets it do so, she might as well hold a funeral to bury Alfred, because she'll never see him again. Damon's perfectly good at ruining potential things for her, she remembers, and if she lets whatever he's trying to pull affect her, this lunch thing will not happen.

'Why are you here, Damon?' she sighs. 'What do you want?'

Pulling a judgmental face, he asks, 'I need a reason to see you now?'

'Please,' she spits, stepping closer to him without knowing realising that she is. 'You know I have a date. You're making me look bad in front of Alfred.'

She's not going to fall for this. He was right there when the phone conversation was going on. He even questioned her about it afterwards, so he shouldn't give her that!

'You _promised_ to let your stupid idea go if I'm interested in someone else, Damon,' she reminds him, starting to suddenly feel desperate.

Since she doesn't understand her sudden spurt of desperation, she huffs out a long breath to censor herself and gather her surroundings in. It's then, that she realises just how close she is it to him. How did she get so close to him like this?

'Are you interested in him?' he wants to know.

She's too close to him, she decides. She realised that she was too close to him, but it's only now that she feels like it's time to change that. Being this close to him, and feeling desperate to have him leave her be, probably isn't a good idea. Carefully, she takes a step back from him, folding her arms for extra measure.

'That's what the date is for, Da-mon!' she tells him. 'I'll find out if I'm interested in him on the date. That's why I'm going to have lunch with him.'

Who's ever heard of actually being interested in someone, without knowing them first? Okay, well, for other people it _may_ be possible, but she's not like that and he knows that. She's not the type of person to just want something because she can have it. With her, and again, he knows this, it's about knowing someone, and _then_ only she can decide if she's willing to try with them. If that wasn't the case, she would've had countless boyfriends by now, but she's only had Jeremy.

After eyeing her quietly, Damon finally uses a testing tone to ask, 'And if you're not interested in him?'

Right now, that's irrelevant. And besides, she has a hunch that she might just like him. There's an appeal to him that she might just genuinely like in the future.

'What are you doing here, Damon?' she repeats, carefully avoiding his question. 'What do you really want? Because I have a lunch date to go to.'

' _What_ do I really want?' he asks her.

Following his question, he makes his eyes travel from the top of her head, right down to her feet. The thing is about how he looks at her, though, is not necessarily that of someone studying her. Rather, it's more of him taking note of certain things on her, because he clearly has an observing shine in his eyes. When his inspection has apparently satisfied him, he brings his eyes level with hers. She didn't feel self-conscious when he was doing his little inspection on her, but now that their eyes are on each other's, that hot curler that she opted not to use on her hair, and those earrings that she chose not to wear, suddenly feel like the worst mistake of the century.

'I just wanted to see how much effort you put into getting ready,' he lets her know, his voice clearly hinting at mocking. 'Seeing as I know you and all, I came to assess how deep you want to want a connection with this guy.'

Well, no wonder she feels self-conscious, she internally defends herself, making sure to avert her eyes from his. He was clearly judging her appearance.

So, so what if she didn't put on a killer dress, and just lightly touched powder as makeup on her face? So what if she didn't want to exaggerate the notion of lunch, and just put on a nice top and casual skinny jeans with ankle boots for shoes? So what if she thought simply straightening her hair and leaving it to hang loose was enough, to not put too much effort into just lunch? So what if she didn't make that much effort in getting ready for his lunch date? So what?

'And?' she challenges with her eyes still away from him.

She obviously can't let him know that this had initially started out as a date of convenience, and thus, she can't explain that she didn't get ready exactly enthusiastic for the date. She'd been hoping that she would like it, but as far as making an impression with her appearance, she didn't have that in mind.

'I've seen it,' is his only reply.

Knowing him, she would've expected that he would step closer to her and make a show about how 'he's seen it', she would've even expected a long smirk, to tease her and get under her skin, except, he does none of that. He simply gives her his reply, and that is where it ends. It's suspicious.

'So,' she asks with a disbelieving frown, 'you'll let me have my date with him in peace?'

She means to ask if he won't follow them and all that stuff, like some creepy stalker, because really, when Damon wants to, he can be a real baby about certain things.

'Sure, whatever,' he shrugs, carelessly and then lifts his hand in a small wave. 'See you, Bon.'

And then, just like this morning, he begins to leave. He actually turns his back on her, and begins to walk away from her.

Again? Seriously, again? Bonnie, for a moment, can only look at him in shocked wonder.

He's a chaser. He said it himself that he chases, and relentlessly so, so why in the world is he doing _this_ to her? Why does he keep making her think that he'll keep pressing her, only to abruptly leave her feeling jilted and unsatisfied? It doesn't make sense. He says he won't rest until he has her, and then he makes her think that he really won't, only to abruptly change his mind somewhere in the middle, and instead choose to leave. Seriously, what is this.

No, she recovers from her momentary shock, she won't let this go. Not this time.

Before he can get too far, she stretches out her arms to quickly create a barrier that traps him in with her. Having achieved her goal, she stays where she is, to wait for him to take three more steps and hit the barrier, to realise that he's not going anywhere just yet.

On cue with her mental counting, Damon hits her barrier just as she hits five in her count. Good, she thinks, he shouldn't think that he can play games with me. He'll explain himself right here and now, and before he does, she's not going to let the barrier down.

'You know,' he announces loudly without turning back, 'for someone who doesn't want to look bad in front of their date, trapping me with you is _not_ the way to go.'

It's a good thing that her barrier, contains everything inside it. Even if Alfred is watching from his car, he has no way of hearing what Damon's saying to her, even if he shouts at the top of his lungs.

'You're up to something,' she tries to explain her reason for doing what she did. 'Tell me what it is.'

At that, Damon slowly turns around, and then backs up to be directly pressed against the barrier. This time, he does have a smirk on his face as he looks at her to answer her.

'I'm going to draw out your attraction to me, until you let down that barrier of yours,' he says clearly. 'That's what I'm up to.'

What, he really told her? She wasn't expecting that, and because she wasn't, she loses concentration and drops the barrier holding him in with her. He must've been prepared for that, because the second that he does, he uses that and his speed to his advantage to get away from the vicinity.

Nice, she thinks sarcastically, a little disappointed with herself for letting the barrier down. Alfred probably saw that. And she'll most likely have to fix that. Ug, that Damon. She swears…

* * *

Chapter 5, **Everything Comes Alive.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5, **Everything Comes Alive.**

* * *

Like a vampire literally can't live without consuming at least _some amount_ of blood, there are certain things that are engraved within him, that he can't do away with.

For example, it's in his nature, to _go_ after what he wants, whatever that may be; dangerous or otherwise not. It's in his fundamental programming, to push for what he wants until he gets it, whatever that may be; be it close to impossible or simply not. It's _also_ very _much_ in the blood that's in his vampiric system, to sabotage what he believes he should, whatever that may be; whether morally correct or not.

 _However_ , in this particular case, he'll make an exception. He'll make the only exception that he's honestly had to make in _years_.

Of course, he'll still go after what he wants, which is Bonnie, and he'll still push for what he wants, which is also Bonnie, _but_ he will _not_ do anything towards the art of sabotage, concerning _this_ date that she has today. Anything after this lunch date, probably yes, he'll play his sabotaging hand at, but this date, he'll leave all alone. And that, is mostly from the confidence that he has, that this date will not work out beyond _today_.

For the illusion that Bonnie's trying to forcefully feed herself, (and this is the first, and least reason) he'll let her peacefully have her _attempt_ of a date. The second, and most important reason, is that he _feels_ like that Alfred guy, deserves a fair unadulterated chance at utter and total failure. That chance, means failing all on his own, without any 'speeding the process up' help from him.

On his life, he swears that if he makes an appearance where Bonnie and her supposed date are having lunch, the lunch will immediately be over, because he automatically _has_ that power. With Bonnie, not so much _over_ her, he has the power to... change or bend things without putting in any effort. He can make Bonnie stop breathing, _if he wants_. He can steal her attention away from everything and everyone, _if he feels like it_. He can take her with him, to wherever it is that he wants, _if that's what he needs_. Going by that, is how he knows that if he steps even one step in the restaurant, he'll be blowing up Alfred's chance to properly fail, before he's even given the chance to experience his own failure firsthand.

And this failure that he's thinking for Alfred, isn't the type that's disastrous. No, the kind of failure that he's sure that Alfred will experience, is the kind where even though he'll be smitten by Bonnie, and he'll be enraptured by her beautiful face, and the soft caring words that come out of her mouth, Bonnie will have made it clear by the end of the date, that she wouldn't go out with him _again_. _That much_ he's clear on, because really, Bonnie didn't even make that much of an effort to impress this guy. She also didn't prioritise him, when they both showed up on her doorstep, and that's not even to mention how Caroline's the whole reason that she's doing this lunch thing in the first place.

He's secure, he thinks with a triumphant smile.

He's secure enough to make an exception, and do absolutely nothing at all, to bring down this date. He's quite secure that, he'll make the exception of going against his selectively disruptive nature. Instead, he'll here sit on her sofa, cross his legs over her coffee table, and start watching any random movie in her living room, until she returns home from her failure of a date.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Bonnie comes back home later than he expected. _Way later_. In this confident security that the date would be a failure anyway, he'd calculated three hours at most that she'd last on this date, but it's going for the sixth hour when he finally hears the front door open.

Her arrival at such an hour, the early evening, almost unnerves him to be insecure just the tiniest bit, but _nah_ … A thousand and one reasons could be the valid explanations for _why_ she's getting home later than he'd anticipated. And, it's not necessarily to say that those reasons are worrisome –for him, at least. He'll admit that he _did_ start developing beads of worry somewhere along the fourth hour... Worries of how she might actually like hanging out with this guy, and how they probably were getting closer than they should be on a first date, but nah… He shook those worries out of his head, because he knows his girl, and his girl doesn't waste her time with things that aren't worth it.

Anyway, he lets out his relief, that was in the past. The present, is that she's home now, and more than that, she's _his_ Bonnie, so he has _nothing_ to worry about. He knows that she'd _never_ go for that guy. The only guy that she'd go for, is him, Damon Salvatore, and because of that, he needs to meet her from the door, to _remind_ her that she doesn't need to look _further_ than him. He's right here for her take.

'You're back,' he welcomes as he rounds into the hallway.

He hadn't so much been aiming for that priceless look of surprise that surfaces on her face, but now that he's looking at her dilated pupils, and he's seeing her lips part a little bit, as though to draw in air, he's quite glad that his presence _has_ her surprised like this.

'Tell me you've been waiting here for me,' she says tiredly.

Clearly, she's not impressed with him, he notes, but she's also clearly _not_ angry with him either, otherwise she wouldn't have that cute expression on her face that he loves so much. Before he figured it out that they are absolutely meant to be together, he used to properly _acknowledge_ the cute faces that she made, only, he didn't really ever _feel_ the urge to press his lips all over her cute face, like he does now.

Hmm, he smiles slightly, he can see it already; his lips sinking into the softness of her facial skin, making invisible traces on her cutely shaped face, while she giggles lightly, urging him to keep going _that_ way. And then, her arms will go around his neck, to pull him closer, and more importantly, to whisper with her body language that he shouldn't _stop_. At that point, he'd let out a soft caressing laugh, to assure her that he has _no intention_ of depriving his lips of her softness, but rath-

'Damon,' she firmly pronounces his name, which effectively ends his deliciously fluffy daydream.

Damn, she should've waited just a little longer to pull him out of that delicious softness of a daydream. He would've like to enjoy the mental picture of natural softness between them, just so he could feel his stomach churn positively in response to those images.

'What?' he innocently asks.

He's pretending as if he doesn't know that she wants him to confirm what she just said, because well, he doesn't want that cute expression of hers to disappear just yet. Except, her expression _does_ change. Either, she doesn't appreciate his answer much, or she simply doesn't like having to repeat herself, because she crosses her arms, just as she poses with an inquisitive body stance.

'You've been here _all this time_?'

'You already know I have,' he answers through a daring smile.

Her teeth clench together especially, just so she can wildly tell him, 'You're so unbelievable! It's frustrating!'

She's unbelievable, he quickly retorts in his head. He can't be sure if her sudden pretence of not knowing him intricately, is a weak attempt at trying to write his suggestion off as something silly and stupid, but right now, looking at her face, he's inclined to believe that it's that. And so, _she's_ the unbelievable one, that it's starting to frustrate him.

'You've always known that about me, Bonnie,' he reminds her a little harshly.

He couldn't help the way that came out, if he tried. Not when her cute and kissable face from before disappeared to give way to this incredulous look, that implies that she doesn't know the kind of person that he is. If he's being honest, it's something of frustrating to have her be this way.

'Gosh, Bonnie,' he cries, feeling his frustration rising all the more, 'why is it so hard to let your walls down, and admit that we'd be great together?'

'Because,' she cries back, uncrossing her arms to step closer to him, 'we _won't_.'

They won't be great together, as if!

'I gave you all of the reasons why we'd be perfect together,' he brings up. 'There's like not one single person who knows you more than I know you. I'd know _how_ to take care of you and everything.'

What more does she want from him? What the hell else is he supposed to tell her to make her realise that they'd be rocking together?

Bonnie's response to that, is a lot more frustrating than her pretence, because she only to give him a look that clearly tells him to let this particular conversation go.

'You know I won't let this go,' is his reply to her response, 'because it makes perfect sense-'

'To have someone that you can sleep with and not fall in love with,' she flaccidly fills in, 'while you wait for your girlfriend to come back? Please, _Damon_ , try being more original _next_ time.'

What does he have to do to make her believe that he doesn't just want to sleep with her? Of course, he _knows_ that she's not just the type of person that will sleep with anyone for the thrills of it. But come on, even if that was the case with him here, the fact remains that _he's_ not a random anyone. Does she really need him to spell it out for her, that he's more interested in being more to her, than actually getting between her legs! Sheesh, she should know him well enough by now, to decipher him. At the very least.

Fine, he'll admit, that very first night, the idea came to him like a sunbeam in the middle of the night, but since then, since sleeping on it, his senses reasoned with him. His reasoning showed him that the potential to have something meaningful with his best friend, should be an opportunity that he _should_ seize, before some idiot snatched her away from him.

'Bonnie, please...' he whines, hoping to reel her in and make her see from his side of life.

He's since dreamt of her since that night, and not just the explicit kind of dreams that make him feel really good. No, he's dreamt of tender and boring moments in equal measures. Only for the fact that she was present in those dreams, under the role of his girlfriend, makes him want her all the more. But apparently, she can't seem to understand that.

'You're not taking me seriously, Damon,' she sighs. 'I wish you would.'

That plea…

It lightly wraps itself around his heart, only to squeeze tightly, so that all of his compassion is poured out into his system, and he finds himself removing the space between them, by moving his feet only once. Compassion and that undiluted feeling of protection and comforting, heavily washes over him.

Being this close to her, he looks at her with a serious expression. He wants to touch her face and prove to her that he _does_ take her seriously, that what she wants _is_ important to him. The problem with what he wants to do, is that she's got a sceptically disappointed look on her face, which consequently breaks his spirit to _make_ her see that he cares. That look doesn't just say that she's tired of him pushing this, it also speaks volumes of how she can't believe _in_ him.

'Don't say that,' he chooses to say instead, shaking his head for emphasis. 'I _am_ serious.'

'Whatever,' she mumbles after rolling her eyes.

That's her way –well, it's technically the universal female way- of saying that she doesn't believe him, and neither does she agree with him, but she's not going to fight him on it anyway; she'll simply leave him to think that he has the last word, when he couldn't be more wrong. It's so stinging to hear her say that at the moment, so very stinging.

'Not 'whatever', Bonnie, I'm serious,' he insists, to which she crosses her arms again.

'So, what,' she begins, 'is this how time with you is going to look like from now on? I'm not going to have my best friend? I'll only have this obsessive idea thrown at me?'

'I'm always your friend,' he defends himself, 'you'll always have me, but I just want to be more. Just one chance, at least, Bonnie. You have nothing to lose.'

In reality, one chance is all he needs from her. When she gives him that chance, even _she_ won't want to give him up, because it just makes perfect sense for them to be with each other. He can't think of any other kind of girl that he might want to be with. Plus, he just recently put together that there's an obvious attraction between them, that hadn't been known until recently. That attraction, will help to keep her hooked once she agrees to trying with him.

'A test drive, right?' she wonders thoughtfully.

'Yeah,' he nods, 'like that.'

When she starts nodding like she's considering the idea, he thinks, _yes_ , s _he's getting there_. He only needs to give her more of push to get her there all of the way, which is why leans into her.

'Everything comes alive with me,' he softly tells her. 'You know it, Bon. I'm your shining star. I make everything better for you. It'll be the same with you and me together.'

Fortunately that part about everything being more alive with him there for her, it's exactly the same way for him with her. He can smugly tell her that, with no fear of being shunned or ridiculed, because it goes both ways. For each other, everything is better with each other; that's just the way it is.

He'd been too wrapped up in thinking that she is finally coming around, that she suddenly takes him by surprise when she slaps him over the head, making him instantly jump away from her.

'Do you really _think_ that I'd test drive sex with you?' she outrages.

And there's one of those cute expressions again!

'It's not just sex, geez!' he puts up his hands in surrender. 'We'll cuddle too.'

The last part of part of a joke, he couldn't resist adding, not when she's clearly irritated with him. There's always been something about a flustered Bonnie that made him want to keep poking until she burst open.

'So you want a cuddle buddy?' she asks, but she doesn't wait for him to answer her, because she immediately takes his hand in hers, and then says, 'Come, we're going to find you one, _right now_.'

'Careful, Bon,' he warns lightly, taking advantage and grasping her hand as tightly as he can without hurting it, 'I might just find one, and there'll go your one chance.'

'Believe me, I'm looking forward to that,' she assures him. 'Let's go!'

The way she sounds assured of the fact that she'll love the idea of him finding a girl to be with, is too tempting to him. He would've just loved to chip away at her defence little by little, but now, he'll make sure to go with all that he's got, and either make her admit that she's attracted to him, or, make her realise how jealous she'll be if he got with some other girl.

Oh, he secretly smirks, he's looking forward to dissolving her plan, which she obviously believes is foolproof.

* * *

Chapter 6, **Fate.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6, **Fate.**

* * *

Together, they've only been to this lounge about three times. Clubbing and hangout spots haven't really been Bonnie's thing for a few years now. Consequently, what she fell out of, he just automatically followed, because most of everything, they did together anyway.

He commends her for picking this place, because no one is likely to recognise them. Also, for a Sunday, this place is just the perfect place. No one needs that much noise and people on a late Sunday afternoon.

'You sure you want to do this, Bon?' he asks while his eyes scan the inside of the lounge. 'It's not too late to change your mind.'

'Nice try,' she says, giving him a smart look before taking his hand in hers, 'but I guarantee you, you'll leave here with a girl. If it takes all night.'

Well if she's _that_ sure of that, then he'll silently guarantee that he'll make her jealous. The best part about his plan is, he already knows what to do to get her jealous, so for now, he'll humour her. That is, _until his time_ comes.

'If you say so,' he accepts easily. 'Let's go scouting for girls. Like the band.'

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

'Damon,' Bonnie says, 'stand up and meet Lauren.'

First giving her polite enough smile, he then only stands up to do as she says. He stayed here like she asked him to, while she went to find him a girl, and he's going to follow her instructions like she wants him to. For now, he'll let her have total control of the situation, until that crucial moment when he decides that he doesn't want to humour her anymore, but rather wants to turn the tables on her.

'Hi, Lauren,' he softly greets, holding out his hand.

'Hi, Damon.'

Hmm, she has a nice smile, and she's cute-ish, he guesses, but he didn't come here to pick up girls. In another life, he would've entertained her long enough to decide if she's worth taking home or not, however, in this life, he couldn't care less if she was gushing blood on display.

'Please sit down, Lauren,' he offers, showing his hand to the couch where he'd been sitting.

What's interesting, is that as soon as he offers Lauren a seat, it's Bonnie who hurries to put herself between them, before they even sit down. As much as he notices this, he doesn't give Bonnie any indication that he does. Whatever she thinks that she's playing at, he'll be the last one winning at the end of the night, so he'll let her have her fun for a few seconds.

'So, Lauren...' he starts as he's settling in the seat.

'I told Lauren,' Bonnie tells him, preventing him from saying more.

He swears, looking into her eyes now, seeing as she's giving him the same attention, there's something challenging in her eyes. He can't put his finger on it, but somehow, the pissed Bonnie that had dragged him out of her house, is not the same Bonnie that he is looking at now. He wonders...

'Bon...' he tests her name carefully with narrowed eyes, only to change his mind. He chooses to ask her about Lauren instead. 'You told Lauren what?'

'That you're looking for a physical partner,' is her slow answer.

Each word, she pronounces deliberately slowly. It's an interesting thing to see from her, but still, he decides that whatever she's trying to do, he'll not fall into it.

'And?' he asking, looking around her to Lauren.

It's that he wants to hear the answer from Lauren's mouth. He also hopes that in focusing his attention on Lauren, Bonnie will get the idea to stop whatever she thinks she's doing. It's not that he doesn't like her being this... Testingly challenging, if he can say... It's more that he wants a chance to blow Lauren off as fast as he can.

'I said I'd do it,' Lauren flawlessly answers him.

In another life, he considers for a moment, Lauren would've interested him with that single sentence. Except in this lifetime, he doesn't have the time for anyone that isn't the girl _right_ next to him.

'Why?' he questions Lauren, following it with his reason for asking. 'Most girls usually want something meaningful.'

'I like sex,' Lauren tells him, shrugging too, 'that's all.'

Well, like he's been thinking all of this time, in another life, Lauren would've been perfect for him. The ideal girl, who he could sleep with and never risk the possibility of a relationship with. Too bad for her, though, he's not necessarily looking for a sex partner. Yes, what's lacking from his relationship with Bonnie is sex, and that is what he wants from her, but otherwise, no, he's not necessarily looking for sex _only_.

'So,' he wonders, 'you'd cheat on me?'

Given the chance, and technically not being in a relationship with him, he wants to know if she wouldn't find any hindrance in sleeping with some other guy.

'I'd expect an open relationship,' Lauren answers him firmly, 'so I wouldn't have to cheat.'

He likes that she's a girl who knows what she's about. He can admire that about her, and if he didn't want Bonnie, once upon a time, years ago, he'd take her as she is. Except, now, he doesn't want her, and he's going to have to dismiss her. Gladly so.

'No,' he says, shaking his head at her. 'I'm a faithful guy. It's not going to work, Lauren. Bye.'

As if looking to hear the final confirmation, Lauren looks at Bonnie, who lets out a careful sigh. While Lauren has no idea what that sigh from Bonnie means, he does, which is why the words that leave Bonnie's mouth, don't surprise him one bit

'I'm sorry,' she gently says to Lauren.

'Whatever,' Lauren shrugs off and then gets up to start leaving.

They could've politely waited for her to be a decent distance away from them, but no, none of them wait for her to be that far away, at a safe distance, before turning their full attention on each other.

'This isn't an interview, Bonnie,' he starts, gluing his eyes on hers.

Whatever Bonnie told Lauren, how ever much information, and what lies Bonnie told, the fact is that they aren't conducting interviews here, to see who is the best qualified for the job. He'd thought that they'd sit in the club, and scout for girls together, sitting side by side, but this is _ridiculous_. There's only so far that he's willing to humour her.

'I liked her,' is her reply, 'so I thought she'd be great for you.'

That's her answer? Really?

Pulling a face, he tells her, ' _I'm_ supposed to be the one who likes my cuddle buddy, not you.'

'Wrong,' she pronounces, shoving her face into his. ' _I_ should like her more than you, because when you blow me off to be with her, I won't take it personally.'

Really? _She_ wants to get him a sex partner, but he _shouldn't_ like said sex partner? Hmm... He can't believe that he didn't catch onto it before now. He can't believe how she's claiming him like this, without actually doing it traditionally. Well, look at how crafty and possessive his Bonnie is...

'Someone's showing a little jealousy already,' he points out with a pleased smirk, adding a little advice. 'Stop while you're ahead.'

Just like he did, she smirks back at him, openly challenging him to think otherwise.

'Please,' she says, sounding every bit as cocky as she looks. 'If I sat on you right now, none of these girls in here would stand a chance. I have nothing to be jealous about.'

If she sat on him? Pfft. No, she wouldn't have to go _that_ far. Just being here with him, eliminates every other girl from the list of possible answers that can fit into the equation. _She_ doesn't have to go to the extreme of physically claiming him, when her mere presence is enough. How he wishes that he could just tell her that... But if he tells her that... If he gets all serious and stuff... Nah, he's not going to risk it. He'd rather just work her into his arms the old-fashioned Damon way.

'My lap's right here,' he pats his thigh as he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

'Shut up,' she tells him through an annoyed eye roll. 'We need to find you a girl.'

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Girl number four, he finds, is a little different from the first three. For one thing, Bonnie didn't tell her right away what he 'wants'. Instead, Bonnie tells girl number four, that he has been eyeing her, without any of the details of how he's apparently looking for a sex partner. For the second thing about her being different, she's shy, and cute that way. Shy girls always have this way of being different, that's intriguing.

Upon being introduced to her, he immediately knew that he'd never sleep with her. To him, especially now that they've spoken a little bit, she looks just like the type of girl that would fall in love with the person that she is sleeping with. Not only doesn't he need love drama from a stranger, he also doesn't want to break her heart. He's so past breaking hearts, and hurting people.

'I'm going to get a soda,' girl number four excuses herself.

He would've gotten up to get the drink for her, he thinks as they watch her leave for the bar, but then again, staying back here with Bonnie, gives him the opportunity to reject her fourth girl.

'Drinking soda in a club?' he comments, his eyes still following her. 'She so sweet.'

'She's actually my favourite so far,' Bonnie confesses, making him turn his eyes and attention to her that way.

That's not surprising that she likes this particular girl the most, Damon thinks before speaking what's on his mind. What he likes most about this scouting for girls thing, is that she is in complete charge of who comes to him, and who doesn't, because at the end of the night, when he's going to bait her the way that he's planning to, that detail will be important to knock her down with.

'She's a little of you,' he decides to tell her, 'so it would be like settling for a poorly cheap knockoff. _You're_ the one I want, remember? So, don't even go there, Bon.'

'I like her,' she tries to reason with him.

She's either tactfully ignoring the fact that he just pointed out that he is not willing to settle, or, she's blatantly choosing to disregard it, so that they do not get into it, in a club, surrounded by observers. Either way, he'll indulge her.

'I like her too,' he agrees, 'but she'll fall for me.'

'You're such a bighead,' she says, at the same time pushing him away from her. 'You're not irresistible, you know?'

'She'll fall for me,' is all he repeats.

His predictive word is final, and there is nothing that she could say, that would convince him otherwise. He's had more girl experiences than she has befriended girls, so yes, his word is final; whether she believes it or not.

'Oh my gosh, Damon,' she cries, expressing what seems like true emotion. 'Would it be _so_ bad to have someone _other than Elena_ love you in your life? I mean, you have _so many_ years to live without her, so why not just let it happen? Hmm, Damon?'

The problem with... He's just thinking to continue thinking about the questions and proposals that she just presented to him, but then he finds that no, he doesn't want to think about _that_ specifically. And so, he only looks at her for a little.

It's that he doesn't like that question. What he knows, is that Elena is his everything, but then again, if Elena _was_ his everything, she'd be here with him, instead of Bonnie being here with him.

In the end, he decides that to summarize his feelings on her proposal, he's just going to go with thinking that he doesn't like that question. That _should adequately_ keep his mind from going to places, that lead his heart to analyse, and yada-yada-yada. He's so not here for that; he'll just brush it off.

'You know what?' he finally chooses to say. 'I'm going to dance with her. Happy?'

If he can avoid that particular topic altogether, whatever method he has to use, he'll do it. Even if just for enough time to clear his mind and get his mind to a place where it remembers that fate has it, that he and Bonnie should be together.

In response to his question, she shows him an innocent smile, and then says, 'I'd be happier if you left with her.'

'Right,' he says doubtfully, while he stands up. 'I'll be back.'

She says that she will be happier if he left the club with this girl number four, but he knows that when he plays it just right, and he gets her to be jealous in the way that he's sure will get her to be jealous, she'll be singing a lachrymose tune. But of course, she doesn't need to know that more than she needs to experience it, which is why he won't do anything to alert her.

In that mind, he starts to leave to meet the girl before she gets back to them, when Bonnie calls for him. 'Hey.'

When he looks back to see what she wants, she holds out her hand as she asks, 'Your phone.'

He should've known, he thinks while fighting a small smile from showing on his face. He should've known that she wouldn't just sit here and watch him dance with a girl... Not unless she was really interested in seeing how he and the girl could connect in a non-physical way.

'I completed level four for you,' he says as he digs into his pocket to hand her his phone.

Visibly offended, Bonnie cries out his name, to express how unimpressed she is with him. 'Damon! You know that I wanted to finish that level myself.'

'You spent a month on the same level,' he shrugs carelessly. 'Failing every single time. I got tired, and did it for you.'

Bonnie was the one who downloaded the game onto his phone in the first place, but she really has been struggling with one level for a while, which has often resulted in him not having proper access to his phone when they are together. It would would've been easier if she just got the game on her phone, but no, she refused to delete anything in her phone to make space for a game that _she likes_. The logic with that... But he's not complaining.

'But I...' she starts, taking the phone from him and looking at it longingly. 'Damon, I wanted to...' she looks at him this time, showing him her hurt, and that's when she decides to chase him away, irritably waving him off, 'Just go already!'

'Good luck with level five,' he says, and then walks away with a happy smile for what's going to happen next.

She's going to open the game on his phone and then realise, that it's still on the same level that she left it at. When that happens, she'll know that he lied about completing level four for her. But then again, if she's been paying attention, she'd remember that he doesn't have the time for that game of hers. She'd also remember that he only keeps that game on his phone, for her. Oh well... When she opens the game, she'll remember for sure.

For now, though, it's about time that he puts a final stopper on all of this scouting nonsense and begins to work on getting Bonnie jealous enough, to pull him out of the club, and take him back home.

* * *

Chapter 7, **Give It Away.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7, **Give It Away.**

* * *

The first time that she looked up from her game, to find out if Damon and Sandra were having a good time on the dance floor, she didn't mind so much that they were seated at the bar, appearing like they were making small talk.

It's been like an hour since then (not really, it's just been fifteen minutes), and now that she's looking at the two of them again, to find that they are still very much seated at the bar, there's suddenly a little demon called impatience, igniting inside of her. She won't say that she's fully impatient just yet, but she is starting to get there. Quickly.

First of all, Damon _specifically_ said that he was going to dance with the girl, but he isn't. If he doesn't know this, there's a clear difference between dancing and talking. What's more, it doesn't even look like he's flirt-talking with her, it looks like he's actually engaging in an actual conversation with her. And then secondly, she and Damon didn't come to this club, so that he could talk to girls _without her_.

Her nerves aren't ticking, she tries to convince herself

Her face isn't trying to create a frown, she tries to convince herself again.

No, she thinks to herself, keeping her eyes properly glued on the pair of them at the bar, she's just processing how much Damon is going against the plan.

'He's playing,' she softly says to herself.

The idea that Damon is actually over at the bar, without a drink in front of him, talking seriously to a girl he just met, is not one that she can reconcile with their initial plan. So naturally, the impatience inside her, springs up significantly, making it so that she carefully narrows her eyes at them, just to maliciously think that he's playing.

He _has_ to be playing.

There's no way, she hotly thinks, that Damon is actually, really abandoning his flirting skills, to just engage in a normal conversation, with someone that is purely meant to be for his sexual pleasure. Of course, she doesn't believe in people being used like that, but if the girl agrees, that's their business. What's _her_ business, is that no girl that's sleeping with Damon, and nothing else, should have that level of intimacy with him.

He's playing, she repeats in her head one last time, before decides right there, that she's not going to allow him to get away with this game that he's playing. He's had his time to play it, and whether he enjoyed it or not, she's going to shut it down, right now.

Led by this thought, she firmly clutches his phone in her hand, gets up from her seat and then begins to walk over to where they are. She's not joking around with this, she's really going to go over there and put an end to his game.

'Damon,' she pokes his shoulder from behind once she reaches them.

Both Damon and Sandra turn at the sound of her voice, but she spares no interest in looking at Sandra, because she didn't come here for Sandra. She came here for Damon, and so her attention will only be directed towards Damon.

'Bon?' he smiles at her, making it seem like all is well in the world.

'We're leaving,' is all that she manages to get out of her mouth.

The strange thing is, she notices how subtly his face lights up, as if to tell her that he's onto her. Years of being close to him, have taught her just how Damon's reactions, speak louder than the words that he doesn't, in the particular moment. As it is with her right now, even though she doesn't trust his particular reaction, she's not all that bothered to pay attention to it. Her goal at the moment, is to shut down his game.

'One more hour, Bon,' he tells her.

One more hour? So that what, he can spend all that time getting to know a girl that he shouldn't be attached to, like that? No, she's not going to allow him that hour. They had a deal that they'd find him a cuddle buddy, and that's it. Nowhere in their agreement, did they discuss him coming to find a friend. He can do that on his own time, not when he's with her.

'Now, Damon,' she firmly says. 'I want to go home.'

Innocently gesturing to his side, he makes his eyes pop out just a little to say, 'But I'm talking to Sandra.'

 _Pfft_ , she visibly exhales, _he's talking to Sandra_. Did he forget that it was her idea to come here in the first place?

She's not going to stand for this, and because of that, she thrusts her hand forward, presenting his phone, to show him that she's not joking the same way that he's doing.

'So compel her,' unapologetically comes out of her mouth, 'but we're leaving.'

Occasionally, she would allow Damon to get away with compulsion in her presence, but for the most part, she doesn't agree with when he does it. In this case, however, if he has to compel Sandra to forget that she ever met him, that's what she'll get him to do.

Damon, for his immediate answer, uses his index finger to refuse his phone. It's clear that his finger wagging is also meant to disagree with her compulsion suggestion.

'This was your idea, Bon,' he says. 'Remember that. Just one more hour and then we'll go, I promise.'

Why, this Damon!

Feeling impatiently frustrated, not only by the fact that he's doing this to her, but also that he's doing this to her for someone he just met, she tries her hardest to stare him down. It seems, though, from Damon's passive expression, that she doesn't do it properly, which is why she instantly pockets his phone and then crosses her arms.

'I have work tomorrow,' she announces as calmly as she can to him. 'So you know what, you can go home by yourself in an hour, because I'm leaving now.'

'I'll see you tomorrow, then?' he sweetly asks.

Why, this Damon!

She barely holds herself to pull in an exasperated breath, but she does it, and when she turns her back on Damon, she makes sure to gift him with a little aneurysm to as a parting gift, for sucking that reaction out of her.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Before he enters his room, before he speaks to her, before she opens her eyes to look at him, ready to kill him, she hears him open the front door. The second that she heard him come in through his own home, she sprang off his bed and positioned herself just right; close to his room door, and ready to meet him as he enters.

'You weren't at home,' he says to her, making her open her eyes to meet his stare.

She's been preparing things in her head, to say to him, all the time that she's been waiting for him here. When he opens his mouth to speak to her, she'll definitely spew it out all on him with no mercy, the way he deliberately frustrated her, by pulling that stunt he did at the club. He made her _so_ angry, he has no idea!

'Clearly,' tightly comes out of her mouth. 'I'm here, am I not?'

First running his eyes from her chin, to her forehead, finally making his eyes land on hers, Damon raises one eyebrow, as though to spell how intrigued he is, and then only speaks to her.

'Something wrong, Bon?'

'I thought you just wanted a cuddle buddy!' she explodes at his question.

This isn't the time to beat around the bush. She's irritated with him, and she wants him to know it. If that wasn't the case, she would've simply gone home, straight for her bed, and put the whole night behind her.

'No,' he scoffs, 'that's something that _you_ made up all on your own. _I_ never said anything about a cuddle buddy.'

That's true, she pauses for a second to admit. He technically never said anything about getting a cuddle buddy per se, but really, who is he trying to fool, the semantics of the larger issue, are all the same.

'You want a physical relationship, that's all,' she tightly throws in his face, placing her hands on her hips too. 'There was no need to keep talking to Sandra.'

Pulling his head back in surprise, Damon goes, 'Oh? So _you_ can like her, but I can't talk to her?'

'Yes,' she hisses.

From the way that she shoves her face in his face, he should be able to tell that she's being serious. She already explained it to him at the club, that _she_ has to like his cuddle buddy, but he's not necessarily allowed that privilege. She really wasn't joking when she said that.

Yes, of course, he can like her, but not to the point where he wants to spend more time with his cuddle buddy than with her. His cuddle buddy, isn't meant to occupy the role of friend in his life. All of Mystic Falls knows that he's chased several guys away from her life, because he didn't want her to have male friends outside their circle. There isn't a double standard here, as he's so silently trying to point out to her.

'You're crazy,' he slowly says to her face, 'and jealous.'

He then starts to walk past her, and she allows him to get a step away from her, only to turn to him and shower him with words.

'Don't think I'm jealous because I'm jealous, Damon,' she delivers. 'If I'm jealous, it's only because you _wanted_ me to be jealous. I know that you did that on purpose, Damon. I know you, remember? You being so obvious, sitting there with her and talking, please... You didn't even order a drink. You know exactly what you were doing.'

That he was playing with her at the club, because extremely clear when she zoomed in on him and Sandra at the bar. Like she said, he knew exactly what he was doing, and which buttons to push, to get her to drop her cuddle buddy idea. Instead of admitting that he did a pretty good job at turning the tables on her, though, she's choosing to hold on to her frustration with him, for doing that to her.

Just so he knows, that wasn't funny at all. Sure, he made it clear that it would backfire on her, but still...

'So...' he drags with a triumphant smile, 'you _are_ jealous.'

He's unbelievable! He can't even admit that what he did was on purpose just to get her to drop the whole cuddle buddy thing? He should at least be able to give her, seeing as she didn't hold back on admitting that she did get jealous.

'That's all you heard?' she wonders. 'You didn't get the part of you doing this on purpose?'

As she stares at him, waiting for him to answer her, he closes the small space between them by stepping into her, and then shakes his head.

'No,' smoothly flows out of his mouth. 'I only care that you _are_ jealous. You being jealous, means that you have an attachment to me that you want no one else to have. It's really sexy about you.'

He would say that. Of course, he wants to sleep with her, so he would be happy to boast about her jealousy. She doesn't respond to him, though. If he won't admit that he played her on purpose, she won't entertain his passes.

He reaches out his hand to stroke the right side of her face, as he confesses, 'I'm attracted to you, Bonnie. I didn't know I was, but I am. There. I said it.'

With the delicacy in his touch and tone, she almost allows herself to hear his smooth voice and give in to what he's saying to her, but then it suddenly hits her that he must be perfecting his role in the play.

It's not like he didn't warn her before, that he'll get her to a point where she'll confess her attraction to him. His soft and delicate words just now, must be his way of trying to coax her to a point where she has no choice, but to admit what she doesn't want to.

'You're unbelievable, Damon,' she expresses with the same disbelief that she feels. 'You did all this so I could admit that I might have an attraction to you too?'

Instead of being discouraged to keep his proximity and touch on her face by her accusation, he's apparently encouraged to press into her more, and up the level of softness that he's displaying for her. Even his eyes, and facial expression, get in tune with his softness.

'Bonnie,' he verbally caresses, 'this cuddle buddy thing wasn't my idea. I did say that I'd draw out your attraction, but I _didn't_ create this. You did. Now, it's up to you, to fill the role Sandra was going to have tonight.'

How can he even say that last part lovingly? She can't help it laugh at his genius. This guy really knows what he's doing, even throwing words at her, that he knows are not true.

'You weren't going to sleep with her, and you know it,' she tells him flatly.

He can argue all he likes, but that is a fact that he knows as well as she does. When he raises his eyebrows, it's instantly confirmed for her, that he has every intention of contending her on that, but she won't give him the chance.

'I'm the one you want,' she shuts him down. 'Isn't that what you said?'

'Someone's cocky,' he mutters as though a little impressed, 'but yeah...' he wraps his arms around her. 'I want _you_.'

Great, she mentally scolds, quickly averting her eyes from his.

Why in the world does he have to say it _like that_ , and make it sound so appealing? How can he say, 'I want you,' in that way, and expect her to keep standing high in her resolve?

Damon is plain wicked.

Little by little, he's chipping away at her with perfect intent, and then before she knows it...

'Damon...' she warns, sounding a little desperate.

'Bonnie,' he growls, then nuzzles his neck on her cheek, 'let me make your heart beat faster, baby. I promise I'll be so good to you.'

Her heart's already beating faster, Bonnie internally panics. If he wants to make her heart beat faster, he shouldn't do anything other than keep up with what he's currently doing. Being this close to her, bringing back memories from that one night when he did that thing with his lips to her neck, he really doesn't need to do more than this. Because if he does, she'll no doubt give her resolve away to him. And fast.

'Damon, no,' she softly tries to stop him with her words.

Her hands, that should be pulling him away from her, and her feet, which should be stepping back from him, to create appropriate space between them, can't seem to think for themselves, because they aren't doing anything to aid her words.

This is bad, she thinks.

This is so bad, because she's frustrated with him, and she'd been a little jealous of him with that girl, and now he's making her remember things that aren't going to be helpful in this moment... Plus, her heart beating faster, is making it so that her breaths are coming out as soft protesting sighs, ready to into moans at the slightest trigger.

This is really bad for her.

'Bonnie,' Damon croaks like he's lacking that much air, 'please... I want you.'

Oh dear someone...

If he keeps up with rubbing his neck on her cheek, and now fondling her back with his hands, she won't last... In fact, she's already beginning to wonder if it would be easier than resisting if she just...

'I...' she hoarsely breathes out.

She...

What is she doing? Snaps a thought in her mind.

Why is she allowing this moment to cloud her mind? So what if she's attracted to Damon, and he's bringing out feelings of curiosity in her? Is one night with him, really worth ruining their relationship over? Is she really going to be that girl? Has she ever been that girl?

'No, Damon,' she finds herself pushing him away from her, with all of her power. 'This is stupid.'

How did she let this happen? She vowed to herself that she would never sleep with him, and here she was...

'Come on, Bonnie!' Damon cries once he's away from her, showing traces of irritation. 'You felt that just now. You are here with me. Don't act like it was a one sided thing. But you know what, you're right, I _am_ stupid. So please go home now.'

From the sultry Damon that he'd been when he was pasted on her, she notices that he suddenly looks the kind of tired that words can't fix.

What does he have to be tired about? She's the one who almost broke her rule for him, and he's the one looking tired and sounding irritated? No, that won't stand with her, and because of that, she looks can only look at him really hard. At the moment, she can't decide how she feels about him just switching from wanting her, to chasing her away, so she acts impulsively instead.

Taking a short step to join him, she circles one of her hands to the back of his neck, and then pulls his head towards hers. She violently meets his lips with hers in the middle. Her kiss isn't long or deep, it isn't sweet or delicate, it's only short and rough; in short, the reflection of how she feels towards him right now. He must feel what she means to tell him, because he roughly pulls away from her, and looks at her as if she just stole his life from his hands.

'There,' she says through clenched teeth, daring him in a way. 'Is that what you want?'

She's angry, she realises. She doesn't know how she got to this point of anger, and why for that matter, but she knows that she's angry with him. Really angry.

What ignites her anger more, is the fact that Damon just stands there, looking at her, not saying anything to her with his mouth, but expressing himself with his partly disgusted, partly shocked face.

Damn it, she wants him to react verbally.

He's the reason that she's here, feeling angry for whatever reason that she can't name, so he can't just look at her like that. To provoke him to react, mostly because she doesn't know what else to do for the results that she wants, she starts to work on getting her clothes off.

'What are you doing?' Damon sharply asks, extending his arm between them.

There, that's a reaction.

'Isn't this what you want?' she cries harshly as she throws her top to the side. 'Huh, Damon? Are you really just going to pretend that you don't know what I'm doing? Isn't this what you want?'

In the deepest of her mind, if she's being honest with herself, she doesn't even know what she's really doing anymore. She's just so angry for some reason, that she almost feels like she's looking for an external, tangible and visible reason to blame her anger on.

After silently staring at her for a while, he bends to pick up her top, and then holds it out for her. The look of fire in his eyes as he thrusts it towards her, is one that she's not comfortable with seeing on him. Under normal circumstances, she would know that look to signal that he's close enough to losing it, but with her current anger which she can't place, she doesn't care to remember that.

As though he's disgusted, he clearly says, 'Bonnie, put your clothes back on, and go home.'

The nerve of him, she thinks hotly. She's boiling in her blood with anger for him, and he's telling her to go home? He even has the nerve to shove her top onto her body? That's the worst thing that he could've done, because he's made her so angry now.

'I hate you, Damon,' she coldly spits, looking him in the eyes.

'Go home, Bonnie!' is all he passionately roars back with.

She closes her eyes just for a second, to digest the fact that she's really angry with him, and when she opens them, she quietly sobs, 'I hate you, Damon,' but he's already gone from the room.

* * *

Chapter 8, **His Mistakes.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8, **His Mistakes.**

* * *

Soft nudging gets her to open her eyes from sleep. Although she feels like it's a little too early for her to open her eyes, because she still feels tired somehow, she still does it. She thinks to herself, if to get that nudging to stop, then she'll open her eyes.

'You're going to be late for work,' she hears.

Specifically because it's Damon's voice that she hears, she closes her eyes and goes deeper into her pillow. Classic Damon, she sleepily thinks, he's up to his usual behaviour again, doing things like waking her up, when she hasn't had her fill of sleep yet. Why can't he just let her be?

'Wake up,' he shakes her by the shoulder, 'you're going to be late for work.'

That's different, she recognises.

That tone isn't Damon being playful. She's overly familiar with playful Damon, and that isn't it. That is him sounding very serious, something that he doesn't do first thing in the morning. Maybe, he _is_ serious. Maybe, she really will be late for work if she doesn't wake up.

'Work?' she asks, her voice groggy with sleep.

It takes that single word, turned into a question, to remind her of the previous night, and why she feels so tired. The memory doesn't come hitting her all of a sudden, no, it gently slides out of hiding behind her sleep hungry thoughts.

'Yeah,' he replies just as seriously before, 'that's what I said. You're going to be late for work if you don't wake up.'

Her now fully open eyes, try to focus on his face, to see for herself how serious he looks, but she just doesn't find the strength to do more than close her eyes again, and then pull the sheet over her head. The shame...

'I don't feel like going to work today,' she replies.

She really doesn't. It may be irresponsible and impulsive, but right now, she doesn't care if she's going to be late for work, or if she doesn't show up at all. With how tired she feels, how much sleep she wants, and how much shame she feels for her behaviour last night, she doesn't care for more than going back to sleep. She wishes that he would just let her.

'Okay,' he says like he's tasting the word, adding, 'so get out my bed then.'

Like he just poked her in the wrong place, she abruptly opens her eyes, forces the sheet away from her, and then sits up facing him in bed, all in one motion it seems. It's the way that he said that, so dismissively, that she wouldn't have been able to stay insistent on sleeping, if she really had to. Looking at his face now, she can see that there's no hint of laughter on his face. She can clearly see that this Damon, is not her usual Damon. Not today, not this morning. It's her fault, she remembers, and as much as she should try to change that or fix it, at least, she feels a bit defensive to protect herself.

'Are you seriously sour about me being in your bed?' she genuinely wants to know.

Fine, she went too far last night. She got angry with herself, and then tried her impulsive best to turn her anger for herself, into anger for him. Fine, instead of just walking away from the situation when she had the chance to, she chose not to, but he's going to be petty about it? Reallly?

'No,' he tells her flatly. 'I'm annoyed with you, Bonnie. I don't particularly want to be here with you. I didn't particularly want to bring you a change of clothes for work, but here I am, because I care about you. I don't like you right now, but I still care about you having your job.'

Oh.

Like that, with that expression from him, she now realises the weight of the situation, and on a normal day, she would take it as it is. However, today, her shame and guilt are pushing her to be defensive,as a form of protection. Although she knows in her heart that it's not right, she still feels defensive enough to think; Why does he even care about her? He was screaming at her last night. He even left after chasing her home, and he never returned, so why does he care that she's going to be late for work?

Stop it, Bonnie, the rational part of her scolds herself, that's passive aggressive thinking. It's not fair for you to take out your anger for yourself on him, who did nothing more than what he said he was going to do. Damon's always been upfront on what he wants, and what he's going to do, you're the one who hasn't been sincere.

'Okay,' she finally settles on, deciding that she's not in the mood to deal with any of this. 'Where are my clothes?'

'In the bathroom.'

Uncomfortably, that's the last of their conversation, because she climbs out of bed without saying anything else to him. This all just feels too wrong and dry.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

At the end of the day, when she comes home, she feels at her lowest. Work wasn't all that great, and remembering every so often that Damon is not okay with her, didn't help one bit. She couldn't help it feeling guilty for Alfred either, which did nothing to help. When she remembers that she was simply going to use the poor guy, when he genuinely seems like a good guy, the guilt only intensifies.

And no amount of sighing, will take her guilt away, it seems.

Even so, because she has no choice, she takes her shoes off, gets into the shower and then gets ready for bed afterwards. The whole process and all the successive actions, seem like one blended move to her, because the feelings throughout it all, are completely the same and draining. If she could sleep it all away until the sunsets three hundred years from now, to cover all over her feelings, she would. By the time that she finishes preparing for bed, she's already decided that tonight, she doesn't even feel like eating. Instead, she'll just climb in bed and preoccupy herself with her phone. Since she feels to much of what she shouldn't, distracting herself should be the safest way to get her to sleep.

Only, once her phone is in her hand, and her head is on her pillow, both Damon and Alfred's names come to her mind simultaneously. Of course, plagued by guilt, she finds it natural that she would think of them at a time like this, but she was supposed to be distracting herself. She can't be thinking of how sorry she is for trying to drag a genuine guy such as Alfred, into her mess... But she is, and before she even fully understands what she's done, she's already sent a text to Alfred.

 _Oh my gosh_ , she mentally panics. She didn't mean for that to happen. How did her thoughts turn into a text? She wonders, how did the thoughts in her morph into what she's looking at on her screen.

 _Hey. I just wanted to say we can't go out anymore. I'm not really in a good place right now, and I don't know. I wouldn't really be good for you._

Because she doesn't want to acknowledge better (that she's clearly acting out of guilt), she blames the impromptu text sending on her magical powers. Her magic, is the only logical explanation that she's willing to accept, for suddenly constructing and sending a text to Alfred. Maybe she should send him a, 'Wrong text, sorry,' message.

Ding! Her phone sounds, to let her know just how late she is. She'd seen him typing his reply, but it just never occurred to her, that he would reply.

 _Are you sure? You seem like the house and kids type to me, and that's what I want. Trust me, Bonnie, I'm over chasing girls._

Flattering.

So flattering, that she's almost believing the idea that she's not a wrongdoer in all of this. It's mostly flattering to her, because he still wants her even though she's not okay. That's actually saying something enough to make her heart flutter. Inadvertently, his unintended flattery, dully reminds her of how earlier this morning, Damon wasn't happy with her, but he still showed up with a care pack to be there for her. The fact that he woke her up, and everything, even considering that he was not in the best of spirits with her, says so much to her. And really, Damon is the one who she should be talking to, not Alfred. She said her piece, and she shouldn't continue to entertain him anymore.

 _You're sweet,_ she sends as her reply. _  
_

She means it to be interpreted as a polite way of letting him know that she doesn't want to keep pushing, that she doesn't want to try with him. If he interprets that correctly, he'll fortunately save her the trouble of rejecting him.

Ding! Another sound comes from her phone, and she sighs, partly resenting herself for trying to fix things with him tonight of all nights. She probably should've just waited for a better time. Now, who knows for how long they'll keep going back and forth? She's starting to feel low-key weary already as her eyes connect with the words on her screen...

 _Is that you telling me that you'll go out with me?_

 _Ugh,_ she thinks, it's gotten to this place, huh?

No, she won't answer him immediately. What she'll do, is find Damon in her contacts and attempt to talk to him. For her own sanity, she doesn't want to go through a second night not right with him, it's just not right. Although she hesitates a little, although her heart even starts to pound more, she tells herself that this is something that she has to do. Of course, she won't go right out and call him, she'll just text as a tester at first.

 _Can I call?_

She types and sends that texts as fast as she can, so that she doesn't change her mind before she can send it. And then she starts regretting that decision just a little bit, when she realises that he's read the text, but he's not starting type his reply.

Great, she shouldn't have done this. Now, his silence is going to eat her up inside and make her heart start to shatter... Oh, why did she get herself into this? The result will just be worse for her, and then she won't be able to fall asleep. Oh, why...?

 _I'm going to cal_ l, she sends another text.

Clearly, he doesn't want to talk to her, but she can't just leave it like this with him. Her heart feels close to quivering, and she just needs to hear him pick up, and then she can apologise to him.

'Here goes nothing,' she softly motivates herself as she dials his number.

After she dials his number, she listens to his phone ring and ring. As discouraging as it is to know that he's probably just looking at his phone while it rings, except, she's not about to give up on this. She braves out the painful waiting period of ringing, until the pre-recorded voice tells her that she should try again at a different time. She'll try again all right, in another second, she thinks, just then redialling Damon's number.

This time around, somewhere around the sixth ring, the phone gets picked up. It's picked up, yes, but silence meets her from the other end. Not even a whisper of a breath meets her from the other end.

'Damon,' she tentatively calls.

Silence. That's all that answers her call, and she pretends not be harmed by it.

'Damon,' she tries again.

Again, silence responds to her soft testing call.

'Damon, please,' she cries a bit hoarsely, 'I just need...'

She needs to apologise to him.

She needs to tell him that she's angry with herself because last night made her realise that true, he could have any other girl, but he's insisting on her, which says too much within her.

She needs to tell him that she understands that if he really did want something meaningless like she accused him of, he wouldn't be pursuing _her_.

She needs to tell him that his two mistakes, of one, making clear that he _does_ want her in a coated way, and two, being here all along, under her nose without her notice, are what she's so tangled up in anger for herself about.

She needs to tell him that she's so angry, because she thinks that she wants him too.

* * *

Chapter 9, **Inside Of Me.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9, **Inside Of Me.**

* * *

Should he change? Should he change? Should he change?

After the first time that he asked himself the question, the words pretty much became a chant of a song in his head. He started out with just reciting the words in his head, and then automatically moved on to humming them out loud, even knowing that the booming sound of music playing in the room, would make it impossible for him to hear himself hum.

Should he change? Should he change? Should he change?

He feels like he should. At least twice, he's looked himself in the mirror and concluded that he looks fine as he is (dressed and ready to go), but something about the blaring music around him and the thrilling rush of knowing that he is going on the trip, while deeply looking inside his closet, makes him question if he needs a change of clothes.

Maybe a dark red shirt would do… He could wear a thin white vest under the shirt, solely for the purpose of leaving his shirt wide open, to feel the wind wildly at it when he drives along in his car. That would definitely emphasise the thrill of being on the road, unlike the current grey T-shirt that he has on.

Oh yes, he can see it now… Sunglasses over his eyes, the wind playing around with his hair, and the blast of old fun songs filling his ears as he drives. His spirit will be high, totally lost in the moment of going ahead in his car, with no real destination in mind, but completely complimented by the right outfit. That's if he stops feeling like his current black jeans and grey shirt aren't the right thing to be wearing on a spontaneous road trip.

Should he change? Should he change? Should he-

He stops his chant of a song, right along with the unfamiliar silence that suddenly fills the room. The music stopping without his command, evidently without reason, leaves him a little lost for a brief moment, that he doesn't think to panic and find out what happened. For that brief moment that he registers the new silence, he tunes his ears in, to take in the other sounds around him, the sounds that he been blocking out with the loud music.

A heartbeat.

There's the distant sound of three of four birds talking, he also picks up the sound of something being swayed by the wind outside, and then a million other insignificant sounds all coming from outside, but it's the heartbeat that is the most distinct of all of the sounds.

A heartbeat means only one thing; a living breathing person. And a living breathing person, to him, only means one person. Working that out, then only does he make to turn around and look for her with his eyes, but by then it's too late, because she has already planted herself between him and his closet.

'Bonnie,' he quietly acknowledges, remembering why he wanted to avoid seeing her before his trip.

Strangely (but not so, when he considers the irritated look on her face), for a first response, she brings her index finger to his forehead, and pushes his head back. As urged by the small finger on his forehead, his head slightly moves back, only to spring back in position when she lifts her finger off him.

'You're being childish, Damon,' she irritably says afterwards.

 _How_? He wonders, how is he being childish, when _she's_ the one manhandling him for no reason? How the hell is he being childish by blasting his music, in his own room, for his own enjoyment?

'Childish how?' he wants to know, taking a step back just in case she feels the urge to do something else to him again.

'Oh!' she exclaims in a high-pitched tone, making it seem like she's really surprised, when he knows that she's really just mocking. ' _Now_ you're not ignoring me?'

'I'm not ignoring you,' he casually answers.

He does that, not because he knows that he's right, but because she is here acting all irritated and calling him childish for no reason. Three days may have passed since the last time that they actually spoken, except, he still remembers that he hasn't exactly decided to start liking her again. What she did the last time that she was in his room, wasn't acceptable to him, and for all he knows, she's come to repeat that performance. If he can do something to irritate her and discourage her from going down that path, he'll do it. Also, if irritating her can force her to leave prematurely, he would prefer that.

'I'm not ignoring you,' she mockingly repeats, a small snort following her imitation of him.

She then turns to her side, and walks over to his bed, before he can wonder what she will do next. As her back slightly bends over his large bed, her left hand reaches out on the bed, to return to position with a phone inside it. More or less, he has a feeling where her physical actions will verbally lead to, but he still allows her to return to him and thrust his lit phone screen in his face.

'So what's this, Damon?'

Missed calls, he mentally answers, keeping his eyes on the screen instead of looking at the face that spoke in that challenging voice.

Too many missed calls, he adds. They aren't more than ten, but anything above two missed calls from Bonnie, automatically goes to the 'too many' category.

He's not glad about allowing so many calls to become missed, but in his defence, he didn't hear the phone ringing today. The music had been too loud, drowning out all the other sounds, so he couldn't have heard his phone ring. Had he heard it, he would've picked it up, and then put her on loudspeaker to hear her talk, without responding to her.

'You're still ignoring me!' she accuses with a finger on her right hand, as her left hand throws his phone back onto his bed.

Mildly worried by the small distance between the closet and the bed, he turns his face to make his eyes follow her throw. With his own eyes, he needs to make sure that his phone doesn't miss its landing.

It's not that he'd have difficulty replacing his phone if it happened to crack, though. It's that he would honestly rather, that he didn't have to experience the feeling of watching his phone missing its mark, and then getting a small heart attack at the thought of a split screen. While he may not be human in the traditional sense, like any human, he very much also has a strong sense of possession and liking for things that belong to him; especially things that have been with him for a long time.

Fortunately, the phone makes a clean landing, instantly sparing him the emotional ordeal of what could've been. The unfortunate part of his brief relief, though, is that having been put in that position of worry, even for a small moment, reality reclaims him. He is suddenly now able to fully realise how in the span of a few minutes, Bonnie's presence managed to destroy the protective wall of blissful escapism that he had build around himself two hours ago, when he made the decision to take a trip by himself.

'What are you doing here, Bonnie?'

He really just wants an explanation, because he had been in the better of moods today, since that other day with her. He had had his mind set on leaving and getting away from a while, to gather himself, and then return with a better plan to get her with him. He'd been excited by the idea of allowing her his time away, to get used to being with that loser Antonio, and then realise that she doesn't want him at all, but seeing her now, he is beginning to feel all messed up again.

'I want to know why you're being childish. Why are you ignoring me?'

Okay, first of all, before he answers her, he'll have her know that she's ruining his plans. She must not realise that her being here, looking and acting irritated, with underlying hurt in her eyes, has him now wondering if he shouldn't go after all. He's got plan to regroup and come back to town with a bang of an attack, one that will lead them to have properly explosive first-time sex, but with her here, he might just start to think if it's not better to stay and rather sabotage her relationship with that Antonio.

And secondly, he wouldn't go so far as to say that he's been ignoring her. He still answered her calls, and he read her texts, it was only a matter of him not giving her any verbal or written response. That doesn't really equal to completely ignoring her, she should know that. But of course, he's not going to tell her any of that, because it could mean starting an actual conversation with her, which will contribute to her not leaving like he wants her to. Instead, he will try to keep irritating her out of his room.

'Why don't _you_ want to have sex with me?' is what he chooses to respond with.

'That's not a valid reason,' she hotly expresses through a frown.

'Actually, it _is_ a reason, Bonnie,' he says just as hotly. 'It's natural for someone to feel rejected when they're refused sex. It's natural for that rejection to be displayed in silence. But anyway, that's not my reason, that's my question to you. I'll answer yours when you answer mine.'

'I asked you first,' she insists. 'Answer my question first!'

Ha! She wishes! And to set it in for her, he starts whistling a tune to show her just how he's not willing to humour her. He turns his back on her too, moving his body from side to side in a mock dance, that's in tune his whistling.

'Urrgh! You're being so childish, Damon!'

He that hears come from behind him, tightly spoken, in fact, which is why he stops his whistling and dancing, to face her again. As he does, he focuses his eyes on her face for a long second, and then roams all over her body with his eyes.

'Sexually frustrated, Bon?' finally leaves his mouth after the visual evaluation. 'Is Antonio not satisfying you? That's why you're strung up, and here taking it out on _me_?'

Bonnie, making a small sound of disbelief, replies with, 'I'm not seeing Alfred anymore, thanks to _you_!'

That's his name? Right, he'd forgotten.

'You're welcome,' he calmly answers, internally feeling the celebration of the fact.

What happens next, he didn't imagine that it could ever, but in a matter of seconds, he finds the back of his knees hitting the edge of his bed, because Bonnie apparently moved that fast, using much of her magical strength, to shove him with carrying force, away from her. Although, as he catches his mind up with his body, a hanger with a shirt from his closet, comes flying at him.

'You're ruining everything, and you don't even care!' she shouts at him.

'Bonnie, stop,' he warns, dodging another item of clothing that comes flying his way.

'Our friendship,' she throws more two more item on hangers. 'My relationship,' she throws something else. 'My moods! And you're being childish!'

After that last accusation, she grabs a whole lot of clothes from his closet, swiftly throwing them towards him. Some of them land near her, others make it the middle, and a few he actually has to dodge, so that they don't touch him. Of course, the clothes and hangers won't hurt him, but he won't allow her to win by hitting her mark; him.

'You're being childish!' he yells at her from where he is, although not necessarily angry. 'You're the one throwing tantrums like a kid!'

No sooner than the words completely leave his mouth, does Bonnie come charging at him with her body, that by the time he thinks to move out of the way, he's lying flat on his back, with her on top of him. How she's doing it to surprise him with her actions one after the other, not giving him enough time to react before he's a victim, he can't seem to understand.

He's the vampire in this situation. He's the one with the super speed and super skills, and yet here he is on his back, housing Bonnie on top of him, like he couldn't easily have avoided her pouncing. What is it about her, that's so physically charged to attack him at random, and catch him seconds of guard to avoid? Something is not right here.

'Unless you want us to start kissing, get off me,' he tells her, at the same time sternly commanding his hands to remain at his sides and not rise to touch her.

'You see?!' she continues to accuse without moving off him. 'You don't care. You're still not being serious.'

This girl is going to make him explode. He swears. For once, he did nothing wrong, and she is rather the one putting him in a position that he doesn't want to be in. He's thought that he could train himself to keep his hands off her, but since she is refusing to get off him, he has no choice. Thinking that, he quickly gets his arms around her back to hold her to him, while he lifts his upper body from the bed. At the end of his movements, he's seated on the bed, with Bonnie's knees on either side of him, his arms holding her close, and their faces much closer than they should be.

'I don't know what you want from me,' he evenly starts, 'but whatever it is, I won't give it you. If you can laugh in my face about what I want from you, then I can refuse you what you want too.'

'Oh, please!' is her disbelieving answer. 'You joking about us sleeping together, is supposed to be taken seriously?'

She asks that, and yet she's not doing anything to get out of his hold. Her signals are mixing, and if he didn't know her well, and value her just more than well, he'd be halfway past seducing her by now.

'I wasn't ever joking about that, Bonnie.'

He explained it to her already. He doesn't want to go over any of it again. The matter is, he wasn't joking about it, and his actions thereafter, should've made that fact clear to her.

'How come I didn't feel like you were being serious this whole time?' her eyes search his. 'You made it sound like it was a game to you, like I'm a chase that you have to catch.'

For only a moment, he considers leaning in and sensually kissing her, to prove her words void of meaning. If he does that, however, considers again, she'll pull out of his arms, probably start attacking him with her magic, and continue to think that he's not taking her seriously. It would be better to try and change her view of his proposal.

'And when did I make you feel like that?' he wants to know. 'When I told you that we're practically together anyway, just without the sex? When I said I could have any other girl for sex, but I didn't want anyone who wasn't you? Or was it when I showed you that I don't want you dating that Alfred?'

'You didn't seem serious,' she replies like it's hard for her to admit. 'You sounded playful, and petty, and possessive. You sounded like Damon.'

He sounded like Damon? And who the hell does she think she has been with all of this time? Stefan? Maybe that's it. Maybe she saw him as Stefan all along, and she expected him to sweep her off her feet with romantic words and poems to melt her panties off.

'I _am_ Damon! What, you wanted me to sit down, and pour my heart out to you? You want to pretend that you don't know me?'

'I want you to not treat me like a game, Damon,' she tells him emotionally, adding a small physical squirming motion to accompany her words. 'I want our friendship to be intact until I die. If you really want me, then I want you to prove it, not make it seem like some joke. Not like I'm just going to amuse you until you have Elena again.'

Following her answer, his arms around her tighten, mostly because she's finally starting to admit that she's considering them being together. Maybe, he won't need to go on his trip to regroup after all. Staying might just be the better thing to do. If that's all she wants, then he has a solution ready for that.

'Let's get married, then,' he suggests as normal as he can sound about it.

If anything, those words should prove how serious he is. Amusement from the female body, he can get wherever he wants, but the problem is, amusement can't be compared to stability. He's grown over the years, to be aware that fun stops being important at some point.

'Oh my gosh, Damon!'

She exclaims that, as if she's about to have a breakdown. Actually, right before she pushes out of his arms and climbs off him, onto her feet, he sees tears well in her eyes.

'I hate you,' she announces with crossed arms. 'You're never going to change! Everything is a joke to you! You're not taking me seriously! You mention marriage like it's nothing. You don't even love me. Not like you love Elena.'

A little irritation, yes, he'd experienced during his time with her today, but it never got to the point of him wanting to throw her out. Until now. How dare she make his proposal a joke? How dare she bring Elena into this again?

Standing up from the bed, he moves to stand in front of her and ask, 'Why would you want me to love you like I love Elena? You're not her. If I wanted to be loving Elena, she would be here, not you. Has that ever crossed your mind?'

'Yeah,' she nods.

' _And_?' he challenges, quite eager to hear what she's concluded on that particular topic.

'And I hate you for not taking our friendship seriously,' is the answer that she gives him.

That settles it. He has to go on his trip. Looking at her now, and realising that she's avoiding the truth, wanting to paint him the bad guy when she's also thought about them being together. Right now, she managed to managed to upset him, and he still doesn't like her, but deep inside of him, he knows that he can't give up on her. That is why he has come to the conclusion that what's left to do, is collect himself from afar, learn to like her and miss her while he's away, and then come back, better and bigger to get her with him. She won't know what hit her once he returns, but he can't let her know of her plans. What he can do, is start by getting her out of his room, so he can leave already.

'Guess what? I don't like you for messing up my room, so we're even.'

Eyeing him incredulously, she wonders, 'You're seriously going to compare our friendship to your room?'

In the next second, she either decides that she doesn't want to hear his answer, or that she's had her fill of him today, because she shakes her head, indicating that she's changed her mind about something. Next, he follows both of her hands with her eyes, as they start to work on rearranging the mess that she created. It takes her less than a minute to get everything back to where it was, and when she has, he returns his eyes to hers.

'There, cleaned! Happy now?'

'Yes,' he answers, 'but I still want you to leave.'

'Fine,' she says. 'I'll go home now, because I don't really like you at the moment anyway.'

With a wink designed to rub it in, he sends off with the words, 'Mutual feeling, honey.'

* * *

Chapter 10, **Just The Girl.**


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